Former opponent of FL Rep. Anna Paulina Luna charged with threatening a hit against political rival

A Florida man was charged with threatening to kill his primary opponent in a congressional race, along with a private citizen who was an acquaintance of the opponent in 2021. The man charged, William Robert Braddock III of St. Petersburg, Fla., was running against Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, the apparent target referred to in the indictment, though that person is unnamed. 

The indictment was unsealed on Thursday and announced in a Department of Justice press release on Friday.

According to the indictment, Braddock III, 41, of St. Petersburg, and Victim 1 were candidates in the primary election to represent the 13th Congressional District of Florida in the U.S. House of Representatives. His opponent at the time was Luna. 

“On June 8, 2021, Braddock made several threats to injure and kill Victim 1 and Victim 2 during a telephone call with Victim 2,” according to the DOJ press release. “Specifically, Braddock threatened, in part, to ‘call up my Russian-Ukrainian hit squad’ and make Victim 1 disappear. After making the threats, Braddock left the United States and was later found to be residing in the Philippines. Braddock was recently deported from the Philippines to the United States and made his first court appearance yesterday in Los Angeles.”

Braddock was allegedly caught on an audio recording calling Anna Paulina Luna a “dead squirrel” and “a f—ing speed bump in the road,” according to the New York Post. 

Luna recently said she had received a “very serious shooting threat,” and it was reported by NBC back in 2021. She won the election in 2022 for the House seat in Congressional District 13. She had previously lost that seat to former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist in the previous cycle.

In the audio recording of Braddock threatening Luna, done by a conservative activist, he is heard saying, “I really don’t want to have to end anybody’s life for the good of the people of the United States of America,” which was reported by Politico.

“That will break my heart. But if it needs to be done, it needs to be done. Luna is a f—ing speed bump in the road. She’s a dead squirrel you run over every day when you leave the neighborhood.”

Though Braddock initially denied making the threat in the audio, suggesting that the recording may have been altered, a judge later approved a restraining order against him.