Father of congressional candidate Anna Paulina Luna dies in car crash

The father of Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican candidate for Florida’s 13th Congressional District, died in a car crash in Walton County on Monday, Luna said in a Wednesday Twitter update.

Luna did not share details about the crash involving her father, George Mayerhofer, and her stepmother, who Luna said is in critical condition.

Luna has talked in the past about her childhood and her relationship with her father, whom she said had a severe drug addiction when she was a child.

Luna, in her statement posted to Twitter on Wednesday, said her father moved to Florida from California in 2013 at her request. When he came to Florida, he lived with Luna and her husband and worked on his sobriety, Luna said.

“He and I enjoyed many many years together where I was finally able to have my dad,” she wrote. “Those years were priceless.”

She said her father supported her through her husband’s injury in Afghanistan and the low points of her 2020 congressional campaign, where she lost in the general election to Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist.

Luna closed out the statement by affirming her faith and belief that her father would tell her to keep pushing forward, and asked supporters for prayers and privacy.

Luna is one of four candidates in the Republican primary for the south Pinellas congressional seat.