ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Aug. 12, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — 80-20 PAC, by far the largest Asian American political organization in the country, strongly condemns a Sinophobic attack against Texas State Representative Gene Wu by Texas Republicans.
On August 6, 2025, the Texas Tribune reported that Texas State Senator Mayes Middleton accused the Minority Leader of the Texas House of Representatives, State Representative Gene Wu, of having links to the Chinese Communist Party (“CCP”) and that he should “go back to China.” Reports state Middleton and Texas GOP Chair Abraham George have called Wu “CCP Wu.” They offered no evidence for their accusation. They appear to be stoking Sinophobia in a partisan attack against Wu for his leadership of a Democratic boycott of the House of Representatives to prevent a redistricting bill from being passed. Middleton may also be motivated to stoke Sinophobia to boost his own campaign for State Attorney General.
80-20 takes no position on partisan issues such as the redistricting fight. But 80-20 cannot accept the weaponization of our heritage against us. 80-20 President, S.B. Woo, condemned Middleton and Abraham’s comments: “It is unacceptable for any politician to smear a political opponent’s patriotism merely because he/she is Chinese or Asian. That is what accusing Rep. Gene Wu‘ of being a CCP member, or telling him to ‘go back to China,’ amounts to. 80-20 has punished politicians for exploiting Sinophobia. We defeated Michelle Steel in CA-45 to punish her for her Sinophobic libel against her former opponent. We will be monitoring this situation closely.”
Mayes Middleton serves Senate District 11. 7% of its voters are Asian American. 45% of its voters are people of color, who will not appreciate baseless attacks based solely on a person’s heritage. More broadly, approximately 6% of Texas’s population are non-Hispanic Asian Americans.1 That may translate to approximately 4 or 5% of the voters. 80-20 has had a long record of mobilizing bloc votes and rapidly communicating with Asian American voters through email and ethnic media. 80-20 is carefully monitoring this situation.
1 https://www.texastribune.org/2024/06/26/texas-asian-american-growth-census/
CONTACT INFORMATION:
S B Woo, St. Petersburg, FL, 33701
President, 80-20 Initiative & Former Lt. Governor of Delaware (1985-89)
302 740 0050
sbw@udel.edu
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SOURCE 80-20 Educational Foundation
