Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican who recently won a close third term, says she will no longer accept donations from political action committees backing Israel or any foreign interest groups. But she defended herself against suggestions that turning down such donors means judging them on their religion.
“I’m not taking any foreign interest anything, period,” Luna told Julian Andreone, a Capitol Hill reporter for Drop Site News, in a video interview.
The announcement came after a close election. Luna beat Democrat Leela Gray by about 2,500 votes in a Republican-leaning district in Pinellas County, and The Associated Press waited until Nov. 5 to declare the race, almost two days after polls closed.
Luna first made the pledge that day in a video posted to X, saying she would refuse all corporate PAC money and funding from special interest groups with ties to foreign policy. “I am controlled by no one, influenced by no one,” she said.
In the interview, Luna explained the money she would not accept as being “specific and tied to foreign causes.” When Andreone asked whether that means no more money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which is often referred to as AIPAC, Luna said she would take no foreign interest money of any kind.
Asked whether she would refund money she had already received, Luna responded, “Well, I did not take any of that specific PAC money this past cycle.”
“Now, I’m not going to discriminate against donors based on their religion,” she added. “I don’t think that that’s…”
Andreone interrupted. “It wouldn’t be religion; it would be support for a foreign government,” he said.
“But that’s what I’m saying is, like, I’m not taking any more of that money, period,” Luna answered. “As far as that goes, I mean, I didn’t take a PAC check for the last two cycles.”
Andreone also asked about her committee assignments for the next Congress, mentioning the Oversight and Foreign Affairs panels. Luna did not mention which one she wanted and stressed her focus on diplomacy.
“I’ve been very, very interested in some of the peace negotiations,” she said, “and I think that that is something that right now people just want to understand that there are people looking for them.”
Luna has spent most of 2026 advocating for talks between the United States and various parties. And that was part of her larger mission of pushing for ethics reform in Congress, including in the way money works in the chamber.
“Well, when I was talking to you about this seven months ago or whenever we started to hear about it,” she said. “I think right now with what you’re seeing, just how this place operates and functions, there’s too much pay for play, period, and I think the American people need to understand that that’s not how this system was supposed to operate and function.”
“So I started with the whole banning insider trading stuff,” Luna said. “That kind of goes along with the same lines of campaign finance reform, and that’s something that I think we are kickstarting conversations on.”
On December 2, 2025, Luna filed a discharge petition to force a vote in the House on a bipartisan bill that would bar members of Congress—and, in some cases, their immediate family members—from trading individual stocks.
She pointed out that the issue concerns lawmakers who receive money from interests that their committees oversee. If you sit on a committee that has jurisdiction and you receive money from an organization or industry regulated by that committee, even if you’re not advocating for it, the optics become problematic. The best solution, she argued, is to maintain clear and independent boundaries.
The moment paused as another reporter tried to interrupt. Luna started to say, “So I’m one of,” then stopped. “Sorry for that,” she added. “No, no,” Andreone replied. A voice called, “Congressman, if you’re getting,” and Luna replied, “Thank you. I got you. I’ll get you.”
According to reports, federal filings show Luna’s campaigns have received about $38,000 from AIPAC’s political action committee, with Fox News noting the figure. Including the smaller contributions from other pro-Israel PACs, Track AIPAC shows her career total as $41,719.
That’s only a small piece of her fundraising efforts. AIPAC’s money accounts for less than 1% of the more than $4.3 million Luna’s campaign raised through mid-October, according to Fox News.
Luna said she raised close to $4 million this cycle, largely from small donations averaging about $20. She told Bay News 9 that she hoped to stop taking PAC and foreign interest money this cycle, but in a competitive race “you have to see if you can hit the threshold.”
The money that AIPAC’s PAC gives to candidates is mostly earmarked donations from individual US donors, which the PAC forwards, according to a Sludge analysis of FEC filings. In the interview, Luna did not clarify whether her statement about not taking a PAC check included that kind of donation.
Luna beat Gray, a retired Army brigadier general, 49.5% to 48.7%, with 99% of the vote counted, according to Bay News 9. Tony D’Arrigo, running without a party affiliation, took 1.8%. Redistricting added voters who supported Trump in 2024, helping Luna win the close race, the station reported.
Gray criticized Luna over the Iran conflict, arguing that she voted six times to extend it, an issue linked to Luna’s opposition to restrictions on President Donald Trump’s war powers. Nationwide, Democrats won control of both chambers in the Nov. 3 elections.
Luna has been a staunch Israel ally in Congress for years. She introduced the Stand with Israel Act, which would bar US funding for the UN Human Rights Council until it condemns Hamas for its Oct. 7, 2023 attacks, and she voted repeatedly to support Israel from 2023 to 2025.
Her pledge comes as AIPAC’s role in campaigns comes under scrutiny across the aisle. The PAC of the group has sent $45.9 million to members of Congress, their caucus PACs, and federal candidates this cycle as of July 31, Sludge found. In Minnesota, Peggy Flanagan defeated Rep. Angie Craig in a Democratic primary, criticizing Craig’s AIPAC contributions.
Luna said she wants her constituents to know that donors do not influence the stances she takes in Washington.
