William Braddock was a candidate in the Republican primary to replace Charlie Crist in Congress. One of his primary opponent was Anna Paulina Luna, who eventually won the primary and the general election. During the campaign, Braddock began threatening to kill Luna.
Luna went to court for a protective order claiming that Braddock threatened her life. She claimed he sent threatening text messages and spoke of his desire to kill her to other people. Luna’s friend Erin Olszewski secretly recorded Braddock saying he could get a Ukrainian or Russian hit squad to take her out.
“Luna’s going to go down and I hope it’s by herself,” Braddock says in the recording, according to Politico, which said it had obtained the recording. “For the better or the good of the majority of the people, we’ve got to sacrifice the few.”
According to the report, Braddock described the “hit squad” as being armed for “close-battle combat” to make sure nothing was left to chance. From the recording: “No snipers. Up close and personal. So they know the target has gone.”
The police refused to pursue the matter though they confirmed it was Braddock on the recording. They said since it was conditional on whether or not Luna was ahead of Braddock, it was not a real threat.
Of course, we now know that Luna won both the primary and general election in 2022. She never ran against Braddock, though, as he withdrew after his comments were made public.
Luna is one of the worst of the new Republicans, one of the group voting against McCarthy to extort concessions and one who fictionalized much of her biography, even going so far as to change her name. Nonetheless, Braddock did not threaten any of the men in the primary, just the woman. No one should face threats against their life when running for office.
- Politico: In secret recording, Florida Republican threatens to send Russian-Ukrainian ‘hit squad’ after rival
- AP News: Claims of murder plot against GOP candidate in Florida court
- Florida Politics: William Braddock drops out of FL CD-13 race after threatening recording
Tampa Bay Times
St. Petersburg, Florida · Saturday, October 23, 2021