Freedom Caucus Fractures Deepen as Rep. Anna Paulina Luna Resigns Over Proxy Voting Dispute

WASHINGTON, April 1, 2025— The House Flexibility Caucus has actually shed yet one more participant amidst growing inner breaks, as Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) revealed her resignation from the conservative intrigue over its resistance to her promote proxy ballot rights for brand-new moms and dads in Congress.

Luna’s separation notes the fourth top-level exit from the significant traditional team in the previous 2 years, highlighting expanding stress over management, commitment, and step-by-step differences.

” With an Aching Heart”

In a letter to coworkers gotten by Axios, Luna composed that her choice to leave the caucus followed a small team of participants endangered Residence Audio speaker Mike Johnson and relocated to block her discharge petition— a step-by-step maneuver targeted at compeling a Residence ballot on her suggested guideline adjustment.

” With a broken heart, I am surrendering from the Flexibility Caucus,” Luna composed. “The common regard that has actually directed our caucus was ruined.”

She charged participants of intimidating to halt flooring process indefinitely unless Johnson interfered to eliminate her proposition, which would certainly permit House participants that are brand-new moms and dads to elect by proxy— a method highly opposed by the Flexibility Caucus throughout the COVID-19 period.

Increasing Stress Within the Flexibility Caucus

Luna’s departure includes in an expanding listing of Flexibility Caucus participants that have actually either resigned or been expelled:

• Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) was ousted in 2023 for backing then-House Audio speaker Kevin McCarthy.

• Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) was elected out in 2024 after recommending a main challenger to the caucus’s very own chair, Bob Great (R-Va.) .

• Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) surrendered in objection adhering to Davidson’s elimination.

The inner cracks recommend a shift in the Flexibility Caucus’s identity, from a union of hardline traditionalists right into a significantly split intrigue, battling over ideological pureness and step-by-step strategies.

An Encounter Leadership

Luna has actually dealt with opposition not just from within the caucus yet additionally from GOP leadership. Her discharge petition, released previously this month, requires 218 signatures to require a flooring ballot on the proxy ballot guideline.

Nonetheless, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) , a long time movie critic of proxy ballot, is apparently steering to consist of an arrangement in a more comprehensive Republican guideline bundle that would effectively eliminate her petition.

Luna’s separation can broaden the void in between the Flexibility Caucus and a section of Republican legislators looking for more updated, family-friendly reforms within Congress.

Looking Ahead

While Luna’s choice has actually been validated by at the very least 2 GOP legislators, her workplace has actually not yet released a main public declaration. The relocation highlights a broader identification crisis for the Flexibility Caucus as it remains to browse power battles, ideological divisions, and internal commitment tests.

With the Republican bulk in your house currently slim, continuous infighting can make complex legal initiatives heading right into the 2026 midterm cycle.

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