ORLANDO, Fla. – A Republican candidate for a Florida Senate district is suing the committee that gets Republicans elected to the chamber over a damaging political mailer that questions whether he and his donors have ties to China.
Bowen Kou, a businessman who has lived in Florida since 2020, is suing the Florida Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee for libel over the mailer that he says has harmed both him and his donors. Kou is an American citizen who emigrated from China.
Kou is running for Florida Senate District 13, which includes parts of West Orange County and Lake County. He faces an Aug. 20 primary against Keith Truenow, an outgoing Florida House representative, and “C J” Blancett.
The mailer asks the question “Why are Chinese donors (from all over the country) flooding Bowen Kou (Lake County State Senate Race) with cash?”
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The ad then includes a list of Kou’s donors, taken from the Florida Division of Elections website, including where they’re from and how much money they’ve donated. Many have Asian names.
The ad includes a June headline from a Politico story, “The ‘Absolute Explosion’ of Foreign Interference in U.S. Politics,” and at the bottom claims that 80% of Kou’s donations are from outside of Florida, with arrows pointing to the states the donations came from, as well as a map of China that is overlaid with the Chinese Communist flag.
At the bottom, the mailer says it is a “paid political advertisement” by the Florida Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee and urges voters to support Keith Truenow. The ad also says Truenow approved it.
Reached by phone Friday, Truenow would not comment on the lawsuit, but he did tell News 6, “If someone were to look into some of those (donors) they might find out where the money came from. Look, I’m just trying to put out there that people need to look into their candidate.”
The FRSCC is chaired by Florida Sen. President-designate Ben Albritton. Voicemails and emails left to Albritton on Friday were not returned.
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News 6 political analyst Dr. Jim Clark says it is odd for Republicans to go after a primary candidate in this manner.
“This is the state senate president raising money. They usually raise lots of money, then they direct it to campaigns where they think it’s necessary,” Clark said. “Usually those campaigns are against Democrats, not fellow Republicans. And so this is kind of unusual that they are getting involved in primaries. This is something fairly new for Republicans.”
In the lawsuit, Kou said the mailer has damaged his reputation and his personal businesses, as voters tell him they believe the mailers to be true. He is also worried about his donors.
“Plaintiffs, close friends and associates, feel threatened by the mailer, which accuses of them of being foreign assets, and are likely to be the target of harm,” the lawsuit said.
According to Kou’s website, the 35-year-old came to the United States in 2009 to attend Michigan State University. When he was 19, he returned home to China for the summer of 2012 and brought his grandmother an American Bible. The Chinese government subsequently arrested Kou and his grandmother. When he bailed out of jail, his family told him to return to the U.S. and not come back. He became an American citizen in 2019, after a nearly-five-year application process.
Corporate records show Kou started a textbook business while in school, then sold that business and opened his first Asian grocery store in East Lansing in 2013. His Fresh International Market now has stores in seven states, with two more coming to Pennsylvania and Texas.
Kou also runs a Paris Baguette franchise in Winter Garden, and plans to open a Paris Baguette franchise inside H Mart, an Asian supermarket opening in Ocoee later this year.
Campaign financial records available on the Florida Division of Elections website show Kou had raised $1,449,462.98 as of June 14. Of that, $1,200,202.93 came from Kou personally, an amount that represents about 83% of his campaign fund. There are also several thousand dollars in donations from his businesses.
The remaining money comes from donors around the country, including $37,162.60 from 134 donors in Florida; $44,125 from 64 donors in Illinois; $28,675 from 46 donors in California; and $18,500 from 23 donors in New York.
Kou’s lawsuit says many of the donors are Republicans of Chinese descent. News 6 is working on confirming details of Kou’s background, his finances and the backgrounds of his donors.
The lawsuit seeks $1 million in damages.
Attorney Anthony Sabatini, a former Florida representative and current chairman of the Lake County Republican Party, is representing Kou. He is also running for Lake County Commission.
Digital journalist Christie Zizo provides the latest in election coverage from Central Florida and across the nation.
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