Rep. Anna Paulina Luna announced in a letter on Monday that she would be resigning from the conservative Republican House Freedom Caucus.
While praising the conservative caucus’s chairman, Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., as a “model of integrity” with a “gentlemanly approach,” Luna, R-Fla., took issue with the conduct of some unnamed members of the caucus.
The Daily Signal reached out to Harris, who declined to comment.
“I cannot remain part of a caucus where a select few operate outside its guidelines, misuse its name, broker backroom deals that undermine its core values and where the lines of compromise and transaction are blurred, disparage me to the press, and encourage misrepresentation of me to the American people,” Luna said in the letter.
Luna’s exit was prompted by a dispute in the House over proxy voting. The Florida congresswoman had joined with some Democrats and other Republicans to force a vote (known as a discharge petition) on a bill that would have allowed new parents to vote by proxy for 12 weeks after the birth of their child.
The measure was opposed by Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., and other Republican members because of concerns over its constitutionality and that it had no limiting principle. Johnson subsequently used the House Rules Committee to defeat the discharge petition.
“We addressed this in conference this morning. A couple of our, a handful of our colleagues, have gotten behind the effort, and, look, I’m a father. I’m pro-family. Here’s the problem: If you create a proxy vote opportunity just for young parents, mothers and the fathers in those situations, then where is the limiting principle?” Johnson explained.
The issue of proxy voting has attained more prominence since the COVID-19 pandemic, when Congress opted to allow remote voting and committee hearings.
House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, added his own thoughts about the legislation on X. Luna replied to Roy’s post arguing that the measure was not unconstitutional if “it removes allowing proxy voting for quorum.”
In her letter, Luna added, “To those in this group who have remained my friends and treated me with respect, I am grateful.”
Luna took office in 2023 and is a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. She previously served in the U.S. Air Force.
She joins several other Republican members of the conservative caucus who have left in recent years, including Reps. Randy Weber of Texas, Warren Davidson of Ohio, and Troy Nehls of Texas.
