A former Florida congressional candidate was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday for threatening to kill his opponent in a primary race in 2021.
William Robert Braddock III, 41, of St. Petersburg, was sentenced in Tampa federal court after being charged with interstate transmission of threat to injure. He pleaded guilty in February.
According to court documents, Braddock viewed Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), who was the Republican frontrunner in Florida’s 13th Congressional District, as “his only obstacle to winning that race.”
While campaigning, Braddock, a former marine, would disparage Luna and her peers to inject himself into his life. During a 2021 phone call with Luna’s acquaintance, a private citizen, Braddock threatened to have Luna murdered if she continued to poll well, specifically to “call up my Russian-Ukrainian hit squad” and make her “disappear,” according to a release from the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Braddock subsequently fled to Thailand and eventually settled in the Philippines.
Authorities detained him in Manila in 2023, and he was then transported to Los Angeles for trial before a federal district judge.
His charge carried a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
