Former GOP Congressional Candidate Sentenced To Prison After Plotting The Killing of Rep. Anna Paulina Luna

A former GOP congressional candidate has been sentenced to three years in prison after being accused of plotting to have his opponent in a primary election, current Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, murdered.

Concretely, William Robert Braddock III was sentenced by a federal court in Tampa, CBS News reported on Thursday. He had pleaded guilty to sending an interstate transmission of a threat to injure in February.

Investigators said that in 2021 Braddock spent months disparaging Luna and seeking to enter her life. In June that year the then-candidate told a friend of Luna's that he would have her murdered by a "Russian-Ukrainian hit squad" if her poll numbers in Florida's 13th district continued to do well, and that they could do it within 24 hours.

"Luna's going to go down and I hope it's by herself," Braddock said in a recording reported by Politico. "For the better or the good of the majority of the people, we've got to sacrifice the few." Luna eventually won the primary, the general election, and was reelected in 2024.

There was no evidence that Braddock effectively had the contacts to hire such a squad or took steps to have his opponent murdered.