No. 11 on the list of Tampa Bay’s Most Powerful Politicians: Anna Paulina Luna

The Donald Trump-allied Congresswoman enjoys greater power than ever in this Republican-controlled Congress.

As U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna starts her second term, she remains a top target of Democratic opposition. But she also stands at arguably her greatest level of influence on the Hill since her 2022 election to the House.

With President Donald Trump back in power, the MAGA crusader serves as one of the Commander in Chief’s most ideologically aligned allies in Congress. A loyal surrogate for the White House on policies foreign and domestic, the St. Petersburg Republican practically serves as representative for an entire political movement.

That lands her at her highest showing ever on this year’s list of Tampa Bay’s Most Powerful Politicians, pegged by the jury as the most powerful member of the U.S. House’s Republican majority representing the Tampa Bay area. And political allies only see her clout rising.

“Anna Paulina Luna swept into Congress as a bold conservative voice and quickly made a name for herself,” said state Sen. Joe Gruters, a Sarasota Republican who worked on all of Trump’s campaigns. “With President Trump back in the White House, her influence has only grown. She’s fearless, principled, and unafraid to take on tough issues — she’s a fighter, and she’s a winner.”

Luna demonstrated the last part clearly in November when she secured re-election with a nearly 10-percentage-point win over Whitney Fox, despite the Democrat outraising the incumbent in every fundraising period leading to the election. Luna secured the same outcome when she won election to Congress in 2022 over Democrat Eric Lynn despite being outspent.

Luna also has built a reputation on the Hill as a hard-nosed “America First” voice advocating for her principles at home and abroad. And while closely aligned with the President, she has made clear her voice stands as an independent and singular one on a range of issues. A critic of Ukraine and supporter of conservative nationalist candidates abroad, she has set herself apart on international affairs even when it put her at odds with leadership.

And despite her hard-right reputation, she proved an ability already this year to work on bipartisan issues, even when it meant confronting Speaker Mike Johnson. Most notably, she filed a discharge petition on allowing proxy voting for new moms that earned enough signatures to pass over the Speaker’s objections. While Luna ultimately withdrew the measure, it forced Johnson to embrace a “vote pairing” compromise.

While that fell short of a complete victory, not many sophomore members of Congress have been able to force a negotiation with a sitting House Speaker. Add Johnson to the list of figures who underestimated Luna.

Meanwhile, Luna hasn’t shied from playing hardball on local issues, including threats to defund salaries for leadership at the Army Corps of Engineers if movement continues to stall on vital beach renourishment projects in Pinellas County. More recently, she started calling in favors at the White House on that priority. Few have such a direct connection to Team Trump.

At the national level, Luna remains a darling of right-wing media, being called the “most based” member of Congress by podcaster Tim Pool. A former activist with Turning Point USA, she has frequently been featured on Charlie Kirk’s shows and media.

And despite occasional dustups with Johnson, House leadership put Luna in charge of a headline-generating Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets. That has put her on the forefront of fights — sometimes with leaders and allies in the administration — over the release of documents on everything from the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation to government intelligence on unidentified flying objects.

At the very least, that puts Luna forward as an advocate for emotionally committed government watchdogs hungry for findings of those investigations. That both keeps Luna’s national profile high and builds a connection to small-dollar donors interested in the committee’s work.

What this means for Luna’s political future is yet to be seen. She remains the chief target in Florida for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which feels hungry to flip seats in the first Midterm since Trump’s return to Washington.

But for the moment, Luna has more political capital to spend on Tampa Bay’s behalf than ever, and that could mean significant returns for the region this Congress.

This article first appeared on FloridaPolitics.com.