Jacob Ogles
Republican Anna Pulina Luna has landed a major endorsement from the conservative Club for Growth.
The Club for Growth PAC, the group’s political arm, cheered Luna. She won the Republican nomination to challenge Rep. Charlie Crist in 2020 and is now running again for the open seat as Crist runs for Governor.
“Anna Paulina Luna has long been on Club for Growth PAC’s radar as a pro-growth economic conservative, and we are proud to endorse her for Congress in Florida’s 13th District,” said Club for Growth PAC President David McIntosh. “Her record as a veteran and a conservative fighter proves she will never back down from a challenge and is the perfect candidate to oppose Biden’s radical socialist agenda.”
Luna’s own polling shows her as the front-runner and she had the strongest fundraising in the race as of the close of the first quarter, having reported more than $1.4 million raised.
With the support of Club for Growth, she likely will also benefit from outside spending in the race, which has helped other candidates running for open seats rise above crowded fields in the past.
For example, Naples Republican Byron Donalds in 2020 rose to the top in a race for the GOP nod in Florida’s 19th Congressional District thanks in part to outside spending by the group. More recently, the group’s support seemed to help Sarasota Republican Rep. Greg Steube be able to run in the congressional district of his choice this year, four years after the group helped him win a Republican Primary for an open seat.
The Club for Growth support comes after Luna landed support from conservative groups like Turning Point USA. She also picked up a critical endorsement from former President Donald Trump last September.
While Luna couldn’t top a Democratic incumbent in 2020, Republicans hold a much greater shot of flipping the seat this year. In addition to a lack of an incumbent, a new congressional map signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis shifts the district to the east and changes the makeup from a seat Democrat Joe Biden won by 4 percentage points in the 2020 election to one Trump won by almost 7 percentage points.
In addition to Luna, lawyer Kevin Hayslett has qualified in the Republican Primary, as has Christine Quinn, who challenged Rep. Kathy Castor in the last election cycle. Amanda Makki, the 2018 GOP nominee against Crist, has also filed and is expected to qualify this week.
