Pinellas County U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna speaking in Clearwater on Nov. 4, 2024. (Photo by Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix)
Pinellas County Republican U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a close ally of Donald Trump, said Monday that she has had access to “internal data” from the Trump campaign that has convinced her the former president will take back the White House tomorrow night.
“I’ve actually been getting the internal polling and data across the states, and we’re seeing right now in places like Nevada and Arizona that he’s actually surging with Hispanic voters,” she told the Phoenix shortly before speaking to a group of supporters at a get-out-the-vote rally in Clearwater.
“There’s the traditional way of polling and then there’s polling through AI [artificial intelligence] that are putting places like New Hampshire in play, so I think it’s going to be a big win.” (While New Hampshire’s four electoral votes have been predicted to go blue, a poll released last week did show Trump with a razor-then lead over Kamala Harris in the Granite State).
Some polling companies this election cycle are skipping interviewing and instead are relying on “sentiment analysis AI” to assess available data and opinions.
The Missouri Independent recently reported that one AI-powered polling group uses “geographical and demographic data of an area and scrapes publicly available information, like tweets or voting records, to simulate responses to a poll. The algorithm uses this information to make assertions about how a certain demographic group may vote or how they may answer questions about political issues.”
Luna’s confidence in Trump’s chances compelled the Phoenix to ask her whether projecting a “big win” for Trump would set up a scenario in which supporters can claim a “rigged” election if Democratic candidate Kamala Harris wins the Electoral College.
She denied that assertion, saying she is confident the leadership of Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley as well as lawsuits already filed by the GOP in various swing states show that “this is going to be a closely monitored and safe, secure election.”
(Although the GOP has lost a few lawsuits leading up to Election Day, a federal judge on Sunday upheld the Iowa Secretary of State’s challenge to the ballots of more than 2,000 Iowans listed as potential noncitizens in the election, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reports).
“And so, what I’m telling you is based on the confidence that I have. I don’t think there’s going to be a question about who’s going to be the winner,” Luna said. “What I will say is, based on the fact that the Republican Party has been adamant about ballot chasing, getting out the early vote, poll-watching, and also won lawsuits where there were problems, so I feel very confident about the results.”
First reelection effort
Luna is running in her first reelection campaign since winning the Pinellas County-based seat by more than 8 percentage points in 2022. While a Club for Growth PAC survey recently showed her up by 6 points over Democratic challenger Whitney Fox, a St. Pete Polls survey showed the two candidates deadlocked at 46% each.
Fox has run on a platform that consists in part of attacking Luna as being too far out of the mainstream for Pinellas voters of all stripes, a label that Luna rejected on Monday.
“I think it’s always easy for the media to kind of paint a bogeyman, but if you’re going to call me a conservative extremist, then you’re essentially calling all the people that elected me conservative extremists,” she said, referring to her big victory in 2022 and the fact that the district is Republican leaning.
Among the issues Luna took on in her first term in Congress were leading the GOP-controlled House to censure California Democratic U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff for his actions while chair of the House Intelligence Committee. She also supported the impeachment of President Joe Biden.
‘Extremism’
When reached for comment later on Monday, Fox dismissed Luna’s comments.
“Luna will say whatever lies she can to avoid her failure to address the issues facing our community,” Fox said in an email. “Our campaign is focused on things like affordable housing, the home insurance crisis, and storm recovery. All Luna offers Pinellas is drama and division, not solutions — and voters will reject her extremism on Election Day.”
Fox told WMNF Radio on Friday that although CD 13 is a Republican-leaning district, “I’m happy to say we’ve gotten a lot of support from Republicans, independents, and Democrats. We have talked to many Republicans who are fed up with the fact that Luna — they gave her a shot. She does nothing with her time in Congress except cause chaos and chase culture war headlines.”
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