The attractive 35-year-old congresswoman is living proof that the American Dream is alive and well.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna doesn’t understand the meaning of “stand down.”
So when an old video recently surfaced of her wearing a form-fitting swimsuit with the words “Make America Great Again” emblazoned on it, causing a furor among social media’s morality police, her response was typically unapologetic.
“I admit I have worn a swimsuit and I identify as biologically female. #MAGA,” she said on X.
That attitude is typical of Luna: bold, unyielding, and unafraid to admit it. The Republican congresswoman from Florida is the same feisty woman she was when she appeared as a Maxim model in 2014. At the time, Luna was a student in Fort Walton Beach who drove a bright red Chevy Nova SS and bragged about spending her free time at a shooting range. She went on to become a semifinalist in Maxim’s modeling contest.
To many of her critics, her bullish stance may seem like political theater, but they don’t really know Anna Paulina Luna. To truly understand this congresswoman’s courage, you need to look at her life story, which embodied the American Dream in all its rawness and glory.
Born in Southern California in 1989 to a single mother, Luna’s life was far from the marble halls of privilege, according to his official biography: He had no drug-addicted father, his grandmother was a heroin addict who died of HIV-related complications, and his family lived on welfare and moved frequently between low-income neighborhoods.
By the time Luna was 9, she had already been the victim of an armed robbery, and things continued to get worse as she became a teenager: She witnessed a deadly gang shooting at her high school and mourned the murder of her young cousin.
Luna almost didn’t graduate from high school because of all this turmoil, but one night at a party, she overheard a conversation that would change the trajectory of her life. Two men were talking about a college education. Intrigued, Luna asked them how they paid for it. Their answer: the U.S. military. The next day, she enlisted in the U.S. Air Force.
While in the military, Luna met her husband, Andrew Ganbartzky, a recipient of the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. After receiving her honorable discharge, Luna earned a degree in biology with the hopes of attending medical school. But her life was thrown off balance again when news came that Ganbartzky had been seriously injured in enemy fire in Afghanistan. Ganbartzky returned home with PTSD, and Luna had to take jobs as a cocktail waitress and swimsuit model to pay for his medical bills.
“She dropped everything to help me. We’ve been through a lot together, but it’s only made us stronger,” Gambertski told TIME.
Around this time, Luna also became passionate about border patrol and human trafficking, joining the nonprofit Operation Underground Railroad. She used her intellect and sex appeal to get the word out through social media. Conservative activists such as Candace Owens and Charlie Kirk quickly recognized her star power. Kirk eventually hired her as Hispanic Outreach Director for Turning Point USA, a role that brought her national attention and allowed her to hone her skills as a political influencer.
In 2020, Luna ran for Congress and, although he lost his first bid, gained valuable experience and attention from party leaders. He ran again in 2022 and won, becoming Florida’s first Mexican American congressman and the youngest Republican in the House.
Luna’s incendiary style of politics has been celebrated on the right and criticized on the left, making her something of a cultural lightning rod. But the controversy has only fueled her popularity: the influencer-turned-legislator has about 1.5 million followers across Instagram, Facebook and X.
All of this explains why the recent “Swimsuitgate” scandal caused such an uproar online. Luna fired back by calling out her critics for being stupid. “I have a confession to make: when I go to the beach, I wear a bikini and I wear mineral sunscreen,” she said.
“They attack me for wearing a swimsuit, but they’re also trying to erase motherhood and get men into women’s sports,” she said on Fox News. The late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once said, “As much as being a lady, if you have to say you’re a lady, you’re not a lady.”
Whether you agree with her politics or not, there’s no denying that Luna’s self-doubt embodies a new kind of American success story: She’s not afraid to wield a gavel or don a swimsuit, and she defies stereotypes about what a woman in Congress should look like.
In a country founded on the promise of opportunity for all, Luna is proof that the American Dream thrives and evolves, even if sometimes she feels like donning a MAGA swimsuit.
