In CA-40, when Rep. Young Kim talks a moderate game but votes MAGA, there are three candidates running; firefighter Joe Kerr is going to give it another shot and is likely to have a lot more support this time around than in 2024. Then there’s former Chino USD Trustee Christina Gagnier, a Chino resident (which is CA-35) and has OC ties by being a UCI alum. And then there’s Esther Kim Varet, who has announced she’s already raised $1 millon for the seat.
I was invited to a brunch for Varet in Orange today and had to RSVP on Friday; one small problem. The RSVP confirmation details twice made it to my spam folde rbefore I saw an email at 10:41 am Satursday morning and we were advised to arrive at 11:20. I got the email very late, damn spam filter. But once I saw the note that made it through at 10:41 am, I decided a candidate who really resides in Hollywood (whole other county, way way outside the district) wasn’t worth the speeding ticket. I actually would have loved to go to meet her and ask questions but just couldn’t do it in 39 minutes (we were asked to arrive at 11:20). Update: Varet has moved to Laguna Niguel and lives in the Nellie Gale neighborhood. She still owns a house in Los Angeles where it’s being rented to one of her clients who lost their home in those January fires.
It is me or do you think it’s a bad idea to hold a candidate meet and greet the day of the Hands Off protests all over the country? Varet did attend the Hands Off event in Santa Ana because it was closer to her brunch in Orange instead of the one in Laguna Hills which is in the district.
Thanks for TheTruthOC for the tidbit about her Hollywood address. And from their post:
Alas, she lives in Los Angeles.
Hollywood, to be precise.
And … c’mon. Seriously—come the fuck on. It’s simply preposterous and stupid and illogical. Why, if I live in the 40th, am I backing someone who doesn’t live in the 40th? Someone who doesn’t share my concerns? Hell, know my concerns. I understand we need to win, I understand we need someone who says she shares our values. But there has to be a limit to how far we’ll go to. We need standards that scream to voters, “We have morals the others lack. We demand virtue.” Hell, as we speak two other Democrats have announced their candidacies (Christina Gagnier. Joe Kerr), and they actually (gasp) live among us.
So, with no intended disrespect to Esther Kim Varet, if you aspire to serve in Congress, run where you reside.
But writer Jeff Perlman got a few small details wrong here.
Christina Gagnier, who announced a couple of months ago, lives in Ontario with her husband and two dogs. CA-35 to be exact. Kim did have a rental in Aliso Viejo before moving to Nellie Gale, but Perlman meant Young Kim has a condo in Anaheim Hills.
One of the three Democrats hoping to beat Rep. Kim doesn’t live in the district either, and while it’s legal to run for Congress in a district you don’t resident, its one of the reasons Joanna Weiss’s carpetbagging to Newport Beach led her campaign to fail against Rep. Dave Min.
New Cook report rankings show Young Kim is one of two California Republicans in serious trouble and one of 10 GOP Congressional reps vulnerable in 2026.
If I were the Kerr or Gagnier campaign. I would be asking Esther Kim every chance I got.
“Did you vote for the Democratic candidate in the last CA40 election? If not, why not?”
New Cook report rankings show Young Kim is one of two California Republicans in serious trouble and one of 10 GOP Congressional reps vulnerable in 2026.
Dream Big, Dan.
There’s always Xanax and a cold beer when DEMS do a faceplant in the next election cycle.
That mindset worked out real well for the GOP in 2018.
What year is it? Dreaming of the past?
Keep dreaming. People are onto you now more than ever. You can’t hide from your ideological dissonance with the Voting Public. She’s not Dana Rorabacher
Y the time the next election cycle rolls around, the economy will be firing on all cylinders and the US will have accomplished all of its aims with regards to trade negotiation and hobbling the Communist Chinese Govt. I suppose the Chinese can always try what they did in 2019 and unleash another biological weapon. But they would pay a heavy price this time around.