Rep. Anna Paulina Luna is calling out a New York Democratic Socialist congressional candidate who pledged to carry Mexico's "fight" to Washington, and demanding that lawmakers be required to disclose any dual citizenship.
Luna, a Florida Republican who describes herself as the first Mexican American elected to Congress from her state, appeared on Fox News Channel's "The Will Cain Show" on Friday and unloaded on Claire Valdez, a Democratic Socialists of America-backed candidate running for New York's 7th Congressional District. Valdez drew national attention after posting on Instagram that she would carry the fight of Mexicans who battled for independence from Spain "to Congress as New York's first Mexican American representative," Just The News reported.
Luna did not hold back. When host Will Cain asked what she made of a congressional hopeful "proclaiming that she will fight for Mexico," Luna called the pledge flatly embarrassing, and then went further, questioning whether people pictured alongside Valdez might have ties to Mexican drug cartels.
"I think that that's embarrassing, and I say that as someone that, again, is the first Mexican American elected to Congress from the state of Florida. I saw her posting, and she's calling out corporations, but she can't call out the corrupt government of Mexico that's responsible to one of the bloodiest election cycles in the last decade with people actually running for office?"
Luna added that she "would not be surprised" if individuals in a photo associated with Valdez's post "are actually on the cut from cartel, because, frankly, the cartel was murdering people that were speaking out about corruption within the government of Mexico." That is Luna's stated suspicion, not a confirmed fact, but the broader point about Mexico's political violence is well documented.
The controversy extends well beyond a single Instagram post. Valdez met with members of Morena, Mexico's ruling left-wing party, and pledged to carry their "fight" to Congress, Fox News reported. She referred to the United States as an "empire" that has "stolen from us" and called Morena members her "comrades."
Those statements prompted immigration attorney Alicia Nieves to call on the State Department to investigate Valdez under the Logan Act, an 1799 law that makes it a crime for unauthorized private citizens to try to influence foreign governments. Nieves pointed to Valdez's status as a congressional nominee and her apparent discussions about facilitating support "contrary to current U.S. policy."
Christina Pushaw, a top communications official for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, offered a blunter assessment: "This would be a great campaign for Congress in Mexico." The remark captured the core absurdity of a candidate for the U.S. House framing her campaign around another country's political cause.
Valdez's exact Instagram post read: "215 years ago, Mexicans fought an empire that demanded our land and our labor. And we won. I'll carry that fight with me to Congress as New York's first Mexican American representative." That language, casting the United States as an imperial oppressor and pledging to continue a foreign nation's struggle from inside the U.S. Capitol, is what drew Luna's fire and the broader calls for a federal probe.
Luna used the Valdez episode to push a broader policy argument: that members of Congress should be required to disclose whether they hold dual citizenship. She framed it as a matter of basic allegiance.
"So, you're running for U.S. Congress, not Mexican Congress. Maybe understand the two. But this is again why I think that members of Congress should require to disclose whether or not they are dual citizens. You cannot have allegiances to two countries. And, in this instance, she's literally running on a platform that would represent Mexico, not the United States, and that should be called out for what it is."
Whether Luna plans to introduce legislation on the matter or is floating the idea as a public position remains unclear. But the argument carries weight at a moment when voters are already skeptical of elected officials whose loyalties seem to drift beyond the constituents who put them in office. The growing revolt inside the Democratic caucus between establishment leaders and the party's socialist wing only sharpens the question of who these candidates actually intend to serve.
Valdez is not a fringe protest candidate. She won the Democratic nomination for her New York House seat by roughly 20 points, backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani as part of a slate of left-wing candidates who scored decisive primary victories, the Washington Examiner reported. She is a card-carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America and has endorsed positions including abolishing TSA PreCheck and nationalizing the airline industry.
Her record in the New York State Assembly raises its own questions. The New York Post reported that Valdez accepts between $5,000 and $20,000 annually as a member of the Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo tribal nation, which derives 60 percent of its revenue from a Texas casino. She voted against the Metropolitan Park casino project near Citi Field in Queens, a development that would have created roughly 23,000 union jobs and over $1 billion in community benefits, while backing a nearly identical bill for a Bally's casino in the Bronx that would have resulted in a $115 million payout to the Trump Organization.
When pressed on the contradiction, Valdez said only that "many constituents and residents across Queens vocally opposed the Metropolitan Park casino project" and that she "cast my vote with them." She stopped short of explaining why the Bronx casino earned her support.
That pattern, one set of rules for allies, another for opponents, fits neatly alongside the broader credibility problems plaguing the Mamdani political network in New York.
Luna's criticism lands because it is specific. She is not questioning Valdez's heritage or ethnicity. She is questioning why a candidate for the United States Congress is framing her campaign around loyalty to a foreign government, meeting with its ruling party, adopting its political language, and pledging to advance its cause from a seat in the U.S. Capitol.
Luna drew the contrast from personal experience. As a Mexican American representing Florida, she said, she understands the difference between honoring one's heritage and pledging political allegiance to another nation's government. The distinction matters. Millions of Americans of Mexican descent serve their communities, pay their taxes, and ask nothing more than to be represented by people who put this country first. Valdez's rhetoric does the opposite, it treats the U.S. House as a platform for someone else's national project.
The Democratic Party's internal divisions over foreign allegiances keep deepening. Valdez's candidacy is the latest and most brazen example. She won her primary by 20 points. She has institutional backing. And she told voters, in plain language, that she intends to fight for Mexico.
If Democratic leaders have a problem with that, they have not said so. And that silence tells voters everything they need to know about which direction the party is headed.
