Jacob Ogles
A race between a farmer and bakery owner quickly evolved into an often rancorous battle insinuating international meddling and haphazard business practices.
Both Bowen Kou and Keith Truenow spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in pursuit of the Republican nomination in Senate District 13. The two appear on a Republican Primary ballot on Aug. 20, along with Defense investigator C.J. Blancett. The winner will head to November a favorite to succeed retiring state Sen. Dennis Baxley, the Florida Senate President Pro Tempore.
Truenow, a sitting state Representative with two House terms under his belt, enjoys support from Baxley and the Florida Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee. The Tavares Republican has expressed confidence while running in the Lake County community he calls home.
“It’s been an incredible campaign meeting thousands of voters across our district and representing my community in the House,” Truenow said. “I’m ready to take that experience to the Senate. The overwhelming support from Governor (Ron) DeSantis, Senator Baxley, Sheriff (Peyton) Grinnell, and our local community has been humbling. We’ve built a strong, hardworking team that has knocked on thousands of doors, and we’re ready for Tuesday.”
But what seemed at first an anointment for the open Senate seat became complicated with the entry of Kou, a grocery store mogul who owns a national chain of international supermarkets and a number of restaurants.
The first-time candidate pumped some $1.2 million out of pocket into the race. The businessman focused his campaign message on addressing the rising price of living in Central Florida. Billboard ads popped up around the region promoting “No Tolls Bowen,” advancing his proposal to slash tolls for Florida residents on expressways where the principal debt has already paid off.
He also sold a personal story of a Chinese immigrant fleeing persecution of Christians in his home country and becoming a self-made millionaire in his adopted nation.
“America, it’s not about what you look like, what language you speak or even your birthplace,” he said. “It is about ideas and what we believe.”
The race saw other jockeying, with former Clermont City Councilman and DeSantis staffer Ebo Entsuah in the race for months. He dropped out in May after the FRSCC endorsement came down. But Blancett has stayed in the race, running as a constitutional conservative.
“If elected, I vow to work individually, and collectively, to ensure governance throughout District 13 is conducted within the guidelines of the US Constitution, and the Constitution of the Great State of Florida, So Help Me God,” she wrote on her website.
As the August Primary drew closer, the race grew increasingly personal. The FRSCC stunned Kou with mailers that documented the extensive number of Chinese Americans from around the country donating to his campaign. The mailers raised the specter of money connected to the Chinese communist government, and included a graphic showing dollar signs coming out of China on a map.
The attacks, which Kou found racist, prompted harassing phone calls to many friends and business associates whom he had asked to support his campaign. He sued the political committee for defamation, with the complaint filed by attorney and Lake County Republican Party Chair Anthony Sabatini, and also conducted a brief hunger strike in front of the Lake County Courthouse to drive home the point.
Both leading candidates saw their business work called into question as well. News that a seafood store owned by Kou had been shut down in Missouri made it into Orlando Weekly; Kou said problems stemmed from a lack of maintenance by a landlord.
Meanwhile, Truenow has long touted his background as the founder of Lake Jem Farms in his qualification, but news the company has suffered two worker deaths in the last decade surfaced in the last weeks of the campaign. Truenow, who no longer owns the farm but maintains a business development position, said the sod farming and distribution operation was “incredibly dangerous work,” but that the farm remained committed to safety.
The campaign bills for the race, meanwhile, have steadily grown. Kou through Aug. 2 spent nearly $1.05 million on the race, with more than $300,000 in cash still available then. He also started the Restore American Dreams Committee that through the last reporting period spent another nearly $53,000.
Truenow’s official campaign account spent about $377,000 through the last period, with $30,000 left to burn. But his three-year-old Growing Florida’s Leadership committee spent more than $698,000 just this year though the Aug. 2 period. And none of that includes the support from the FRSCC or other entities.
Blancett spent a more subdued $4,600 on her campaign.
The winner of the Tuesday Primary will face Democrat Stephanie Dukes in November, but that’s expected to be lopsided. Baxley in 2022 won more than 62% against Dukes in the bright red district. The same day, Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and DeSantis won re-election by similar margins.
