Candidate Profile: Tuan Le

House District 40 voters can be excused if they’re experiencing a sense of déjà vu. It was just last year at this time that they went to the polls in a special election between Republican entrepreneur Tuan Le of Apopka and RaShon Young, of Ocoee, now the Democratic State Representative for the district.  

Now Le, 46, is challenging Young again in the Nov. 3 midterm elections, despite Young’s victory last year with 75 percent of the vote. 

Le had not initially planned to run, but in late August he was unanimously selected to stand for election by members of the Republican State Executive Committee after the original nominee, Ocoee resident Nate Robertson, bowed out of the race. Le has twice run for the 10th Congressional District, in 2022 and 2024, losing both elections in the primaries. 

Le is undaunted by his previous defeats, telling VoxPopuli that he has better name recognition than before, and voters will appreciate his background, his experiences and his contributions to the community. Some of those experiences include eviction notices, tax liens, health code violations and failed businesses. In a recent interview, Le said without going into detail that he is still paying down his debts.

"I pay what I need to be paid. I settle what I need to be settled. And I'm working on it. There's still some going on. But, then, I grow the business at the same time,” he added.

Le grew up in Pine Hills after he and his family immigrated to the U.S. from Vietnam. He and his wife, with whom he reconciled after divorce, have a two-year-old daughter. He said many of his business and financial problems emerged during the Covid-19 shutdowns. As a result, his French restaurant chain Le Crave folded, however, he said that he still owns a Korean hot BBQ restaurant KravePot and Asian market in Melbourne, several nail salons, engineering firm LeNgineer, and a research development company called Lennovation. Le is a former aerospace engineer for NASA and also worked for Lockheed Martin.

“One of the reasons that I run in politics is not because I lost income but … because I see the corruption, the problem in the system,” he said. “I believe everything can be fixed. I have knowledge. I have skill. I still have plenty of time to fix everything.”

Here, Le answers questions from VoxPopuli and the News Collaborative of Central Florida. Le declined to answer some questions. Responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.

If elected, what are the three most pressing problems in your district that you want to address, and what do you suggest to solve them?

Le did not submit a response.

Why do you deserve to be elected?

Le did not submit a response.

According to a University of North Florida poll, Floridians say affordability is their top issue. What are your solutions for dealing with Florida’s affordability issue?

Le did not submit a response.

Will you vote Yes or No on the constitutional amendment to slash property taxes and explain your position. How would you replace lost revenue – fees and/or service reductions?

Le did not submit a response.

Utility costs are rising for customers in Florida, and the proliferation of data centers is expected to exacerbate that issue. How should Florida’s utility regulators respond?

Le did not submit a response.

What do you think is the biggest environmental issue the government should address in Florida?

Le did not submit a response.

In recent years, the Florida Legislature and the governor's administration has acted more than 50 times to rescind the ability of local governments to make decisions about everything from the use of plastic straws or gas-powered leaf blowers to the height and density of buildings for affordable housing developments. Do you support state preemption of cities and counties to govern themselves?  

It's … case by case. My background come[s] from engineering and [as a] business entrepreneur. So for me, I have different leadership than a lot of people who don't have experience and [come] just straight out from politics or straight out from college or been working, been [in the] environment of politics and making decisions for the people without understanding the challenge of it. So it's always a balance of what you build and you push out. It’s not that every single bill the governor [has] done is what I want, but that doesn't mean it’s everything I don't want.

Overregulation, that’s not what I want because some city, they put too much regulation, and other city next door doesn’t have regulation. It doesn’t balance as well. So sometimes the state have to jump in. The state have to jump in because look at city by city … if you apply the policy in Orlando, but you don’t apply in Apopka, and then if some situation has happened inside the county… and that is creating a problem. I cannot speak for any other county or any other area. I'm focused on District 40, and District 40 needs to redo regulation to move the economy to make a better living for everybody and have a better development.

‍Do you support expanding the eligible uses of the Tourist Development Tax under state law? If so, how would you allow local governments to use the TDT (i.e., for public infrastructure, transit, affordable housing, public safety)?

I'm very [pro] business capitalism. So tourists come [to] the state, and they spend the money … locally. So it has to be split in that city and [with] the state. The government, the governor and the administration and the House of Representatives have to do the best that they could to bring more people to the state. The city do more attractive stuff to bring tourists to their city. If you bring the money in, you share the money. That’s my policy. 

School districts across Florida are facing declining enrollment and school closures. What do you believe are the causes of the declining enrollment, and how would you address those causes? What actions would you take to boost enrollment in public schools?

‍The problem in Florida right now is the education system confusion. We have to work together. Now let me put this way: I don't care if a teacher is a Democratic or Republican. The teacher have the responsibility to educat[e] the kids [through] the education system, not the way that they want. So the education system have to be more clear in which direction that we will have to go in the next two years, five years, 10 years. Because right now … Republicans trying to do this and that, and Democrats trying to stop and try to do the other way. So my job is I have to get the best solution.

People who have money, they go to private school because they know what they want for the kid because the public education system doesn't know what they want for the kid. Because … it’s about a party, it’s not about the people ... It's not about school. It's all about, Hey, is that a Democrat school or is that a Republican school? Hey, is the principal a Republican or principal is a Democrat? Then enrollment has become slow. So people who doesn't have money or they choose to go to a Catholic or some other private school … that’s splitting the education system.

It's a problem … that the leader in our education system and the local system doesn't work together. That's why it's pushing people to go out to a private school and go out to other school because they don't see a public school as a benefit for them. We have to fix that. I have a two-year-old daughter now so I want to do everything right, right now for her because I don't want her to go to a private school … because I [came] out of a public school. So I understand the problem, I see the problem and I know the advantages of it, and the disadvantages of it, and how to do what to do to make it better. We have to make a change to motivate and make people enroll into a public school instead of a private school because there are some people who don't have money.

‍What is the single biggest issue the government should address when it comes to public education in Florida?‍

See above answer.

Do you see the need for more accountability measures for education quality and/or financial stewardship at the private schools that now collectively receive more than $4 billion each year in public funds? If so, what accountability measures do you recommend? ‍

I support the … free choice education [personally], but I also doesn't support that the money cannot just go into the private school. They have to look for investor. They have to look for donor. That is the private school responsibility. The education system, the public school is [for] the people who doesn't have the opportunity or doesn't have the money in the wallet to pay the private. So the money have to stay in the public school. You cannot suck all the money out.

So the private school have to engage and work harder to get money from donor, and at the same time, public school have to come up with program that will work with other company, big company out there, to have some kind of program to pre-educate or train the kid when they was in 11[th grade] or senior year, so … they can have some kind of degree or some kind of certificate, if they don't continue with the college. The education leader of every area have to work hard with the local business as well to bring the money in, not just only wait for the money from the state.

[Regarding the issue of accountability for public funds used by private schools], I have to see clearly where money go, how it's been used, what it's been used, to determine …[whether] this money have to be reduced or increased based on the situation. When I get in office, the second thing I have to do is I have to make sure that education system, the private money and the public money have to be balanced properly … because I'm always vote for public school. This is a big topic. If this is something easy, people fix it already. It's not only what I can do, it’s also a … political problem as I mentioned earlier. So I want to stop that political problem in the education system.

Florida is currently seventh in the nation for measles cases because of declining vaccination rates among children. The Florida Surgeon General recently introduced a revised rule that would eliminate vaccine mandates not required by law. Where do you stand on maintaining vaccine mandates for school entry? Do you believe that vaccines cause autism?

‍[Vaccinations are] some stuff we have to [do], but this stuff is not transparent to other people. That is people's choice. But if you go into a public school, or you go into any public area, public services, you have to follow the guideline … of the area, of that education system. If [an] education system require this vaccine because … 20, 30, 40 people in the class, you don't know who is who. There's some stuff, some vaccine that you have to have because otherwise it's transferred to other people. If the disease is transferred to the people in public, if you send your kid to public school or to any public services, government service area, you have to follow because that is not about you anymore. 

I have to look at the money dollar because I don't want to get the tax dollar put in private, and they use that …for the people who don't take the vaccines. The private has to come out with some fund that will take care of the people who don't take the vaccine that [is] required or the medicine that's required for the kid, and that money is not used directly for the whole school. It's used on a small group of people who don't want to do what the public says. 

[Ed Note: Le said he had no position on whether vaccines caused autism but added that he would like to use A.I. to investigate the issue. The alleged link between vaccines and autism has been thoroughly disproven through studies involving millions of children. The latest thinking is that autism is caused by changes that occur to a baby’s developing brain in utero.]

What specific actions will you take regarding the findings from the grand jury report on the Hope Florida controversy, and will you pursue the recovery of disputed funds?

Wait and see, but I have to be straight … have to be fair for the tax dollar [and a responsibility to the taxpayer].

What will you do to protect voting rights and election integrity?‍

Everybody when they born, they have a birth certificate. And when they start to drive, they have driver[’s] license, as well. And when they looking for a job, they have Social Security. So the ID is something that very basic everybody have … When people become citizen, you have a responsibility to protect this country for your next generation.

Do you agree with the current federal and state governments’ approaches to immigration enforcement?

There's so many ways to get in this country. It's not one way. I come from another country so I respect people who left the country because of economic, because of politic matter. Only less than 1 percent of people come because of politic matter. But people who come from other country, it’s all about economic matter. If they come in here because of economic matter, they have to apply into our system. They cannot just freely get in here because we pay tax. We pay for everything by working hard, paying for the tax dollar. That is one thing. Another thing is if they are undocumented, we don't know who they are, where they at. If they do something wrong, how we find them? I don't want people to come here because it's undocumented and we don't know who they are, we don't know where they at, how we track them down and where we can press charge on them.

[Regarding federal immigration enforcement], we have to isolate those people [who create problems or are criminals]. We have to send them to some other country if they take it. If we were able to push them out to other countries, if they take it, why not? Why do we have to put the problem in our own soil? Put it this way: if one criminal come into this country … and they get captured, inside the prison, they could create another worse mentality to the prison that we have here. It creates more problems inside the prison. So why don't we just put them where they come from or to the countries that they're willing to take. If we have to pay for that, fine, but the problem is not here.

‍Do you believe abortion restrictions in Florida should be stricter, less strict, or stay the same?‍

This question is never [a] win. It doesn't matter how you answer it to be honest with you. So if you get pregnant because you’re careless, you don’t care, you have fun, you get baby, and you want to get rid of it, that’s because you don’t care. The baby had nothing to do with it. We have so many people who don't have kids … The people will take it.

But if you have medical problems, then you have to give either a choice: the baby's life or the mother's life. It’s up to the mother. But if it's not a medical situation, the baby has to get out. [Regarding the current abortion laws], there have to be more update of clear statement and of their information. The law have to be rewritten [because it’s unclear for many people on what they should do and how they should act].

Florida is one of the 10 states that opted not to expand Medicaid. Do you support expanding it?  ‍

Medicaid is a big problem. Big, big, big, big problem because a lot of people take advantage. I know that. They lie. They lie to the system to take the money. So the most important [issue] is we have to clean the house. Of course, I want to take care of the people who need to be taken care of. There's so much corruption that we have to clean the house that because a lot of people … who doesn't have any problem, create a problem, go to a doctor, come up with a problem, try to take advantage of the money. And there are people who really are sick, they don't get a full benefit of it. If we have a good economic system, we will increase the Medicaid [savings]. But we have to investigate … the people and put charges on people who lie about the system.

So I want the people who really need attention, who really need the care to have enough money for it, not … the people who doesn't need it. We have to … charge who lie to the system because they took the money and that’s why we don’t have enough money. We never have enough money. It doesn't matter how much money we want to throw at, we won’t have the money [unless we root out waste, fraud and abuse]. If we clean it up, we have a lot of money [that can be used efficiently and effectively for the patient].

How do you balance the rights of gun owners under the Second Amendment with the need to maintain safety in public spaces like schools, shopping centers, and places of worship? Should parents be held liable if a child commits a crime, like a mass shooting, with their unsecured gun?

I support the Second Amendment, and, of course, I have guns too, to protect myself, to protect my family … but I don't expose them in public. I love it the way it is because nobody protects you better than yourself. But we have to make sure that if school... find out if the kid misbehave … the parents have to know about it and make sure there's no gun or weapon around. That’s the parent job. The parent has to work with the children, and the school need to work with the parent. So what we see nowadays, parent doesn’t care for the children anymore … they just let the children do whatever, without restricting them. So that's why the school job is to make sure [to tell] the parents, Hey, your kid misbehave. You have to be aware. ‍

So, now, back to political. The school has too much involved with politics instead of taking care of the children, taking care of the family, the parents. So, back into the same question for the children … the parents have to be responsible to have the gun control better … and not going to create a massive gunfire or anything like that. [We need] to make sure there's more protection because the population in Florida has been increased and more people are coming here. So we have to make sure our education system has to be fixed to prevent a gun problem.‍

If Amendment 3 passes, there’s been discussion among lawmakers about creating a trust fund to help municipalities offset property tax losses. Would you support such a fund? 

So I have to review, to be honest, up front with you, I have not taken a look on [this proposal]. For me, across Florida, if you have only one property, I don't want to tax on that property. We have so many tax: income … sale tax … the property, it shouldn't have any more tax. When we buy a room, we have to pay tax. When we buy a roof, we have to pay tax. So many tax already. When we pay for electric bill, we have to pay tax. Tax everywhere.