“Female George Santos”: Politician sells herself as a poor Jewess

Anna Paulina Luna
“Female George Santos”: US MP sells herself as an impoverished Jew – her family disagrees

The case surrounding the lies of US Congressman George Santos keeps turning around. Now one of his colleagues also has to be asked uncomfortable questions about her campaign history – from her origins to alleged burglaries.

At least since Donald Trump’s presidency, one thing has been clear: In the US election campaign, you don’t have to tell the truth to win. Almost every day there are new details about the lies of MP George Santos. Now the baron of lies is getting competition from his own party: MP Anna Paulina Luna is also said to have pimped up her life story.

This shows a large-scale research by the “Washington Post”. Luna, who is politically close to Donald Trump, had won her electoral district in Florida by portraying herself as a Jew of Mexican descent who, growing up in poor circumstances and the trauma of a life-threatening burglary, had achieved her current positions. But large parts of this story seem to have been exaggerated or simply made up, as the newspaper claims to have found out.

“Female George Santos”: Suddenly Latina

The staging begins with the name. The member of parliament was not born as Anna Paulina Luna, but as Anna Paulina Mayerhofer. The surname comes from her German-born father. When she first decided to run as a politician in 2018, she had already discarded her name and entered her husband’s name in the documents as Anna Paulina Gamberzky. It wasn’t until 2019 that she decided to take her mother’s maiden name. Although this no longer led, the “Tampa Bay Times” already reported in 2020.

Election campaign calculations may have been behind this. In the 2019 election campaign, today’s MP began to emphasize her mother’s Latin American roots for the first time. Even when pronouncing her first name, she now emphasizes the Spanish variant. That wasn’t the case before, various former roommates and colleagues report to the Washington Post. She always chose Anna’s American pronunciation, saying she was from the Middle East, Jewish or Eastern European, according to various friends from her time in the army. Many were also surprised that she was now a Republican. During Obama’s administration, she often praised the democratic president and his policies.

The family remembers differently

The story of her growing up in poverty doesn’t quite fit the memories of friends and relatives either. The Army colleagues recall that Luna often wore designer clothes, assuming that she came from a wealthy family. She herself reports that her single mother raised her without the support and contact of the extended family. And how much it influenced her.

Several of her relatives disagree. “They were always at family celebrations,” recalls cousin Nicole Mayerhofer. “The whole family raised her. My father was an important part of her life when she was younger.” The grandfather also took part, supported them financially and picked them up from school, other relatives report. However, Luna’s mother denies this to the newspaper. However, she also shares other claims from her daughter that could not be proven. In the meantime she has also adopted the name Luna again.

Alleged Jews with a Nazi past

The family is obviously a difficult topic for Luna anyway. Her father raised her Jewish, she told Business Insider in November. The family disagrees: their father was a Catholic, the survivors report. In view of the family history, it is rather unlikely that he has Jewish roots. His father Heinrich Mayerhofer, who emigrated to the USA in 1954, had served in the Wehrmacht during World War II. It wasn’t a secret. “It always hurt him to talk about it,” recalls one of Luna’s aunts. He was not a convinced Nazi, but after moving in he saw no other choice. Luna had always referred only to her maternal great-grandfather – who had fought on the Allied side – when referring to World War II.

Luna’s father himself can no longer comment on this, he died in a car accident last year. So he can’t comment on Luna’s stories that as a child she could only visit him in prison. An attempt to prove these anecdotes failed. When asked by the Washington Post, the Orange County jail where he was being held, according to Luna, could at least find no evidence of his incarceration there.

A burglary with consequences

One of Luna’s most well-known positions is her uncompromising fight for gun freedom. She made headlines, for example, because she called for the right to carry weapons on congressional committees. She cites trauma from a burglary as one of the reasons for the position. She was at home when her landlord broke into the apartment at night. Only with the help of a friend nothing worse happened. “I’ve seen what happens when gun ownership is restricted,” she used the incident to justify her position on guns.

However, this story cannot be confirmed either. According to a police report, it did not happen at night, but during the day. And both Luna and her roommate were not at home. The roommate also remembers this to the “Post”. And adds another detail: both she and Luna would have had firearms at home.

The roommate also knows from their time together that Luna doesn’t take the truth very seriously. “She was really able to adjust her personality to suit the situation,” she recalls. Even Luna seems to perceive it that way. “I can take on different personalities depending on which image I prefer at the moment,” she said frankly in an interview with the Canadian fashion magazine “Skyn”. Luna, who was working as a model at the time, was asked for tips for beginners. And probably also took this to heart for her political career. “Accepting the character of what you want to sell – that’s just extremely important.”

Sources:Washington Post, Tampa Bay Times, Campaign Page, salon