GOP Candidate Who Threatened Opponent Gets 3 Years

In 2021, William Braddock said his rival in a Republican primary in Florida was "off her rocker" when she filed for a restraining order. On Wednesday, he was sentenced to three years in prison for threatening to have her killed, the Tampa Bay Times reports. Braddock was secretly recorded threatening to have Rep. Anna Paulina Luna killed by a "Russian and Ukrainian hit squad" if polls showed her ahead in the primary in the state's 13th District. Braddock, 41, pleaded guilty in February to sending an interstate transmission of a threat to injure, reports the AP.

According to a Department of Justice press release, Braddock viewed Luna, the front-runner, as "his only obstacle" to winning the race and for months, he disparaged her to her peers "and attempted to inject himself into her life." Braddock ended up dropping out of the primaries and flying to Asia. He surrendered to authorities in the Philippines in 2023 and remained in custody there until was deported to the US last year. Luna went on to win the primary and the general election in 2022. She was re-elected last year. The AP notes that there was no evidence Braddock took any steps toward carrying out his threats—or that he had contacts with organized crime. (More Florida stories.)