Hot off the press from the CA40 campaign of Esther Kim-Varet:
With a 15X Cash Advantage Raised From Over 50,000 Individual Donations, Social Media Reach in Tens of Millions Monthly, and Polling Showing Her Positioned to Flip CA-40, Kim-Varet is the ONLY Viable Candidate Who Can Retire MAGA Incumbents Ken Calvert and Young Kim.
COTO DE CAZA, CA — With only 100 days to go before the June 2nd midterm primary election, Esther Kim-Varet, frontrunner to flip California’s 40th Congressional District, calls on fellow Democratic candidates Lisa Ramirez and Joe Kerr to exit the CA-40 race before March 6 in order to keep their names off the ballot, to preserve the path towards flipping this critical battleground House seat.
CA-40 is the ONLY House district race in the nation where, due to Prop 50 redistricting, two incumbent Republican Representatives are both competing against each other. Reps Ken Calvert and Young Kim are both traitorous MAGA-aligned career politicians who no longer serve the people.
Yesterday the California Democratic Party announced that it will NOT endorse in this cycle’s CA-40 race. Of the remaining Democratic candidates in the race, FEC records indicate that Kim-Varet is the only viable candidate — in resources, reach, and residency — to take on Kim and Calvert.
Democratic candidate Lisa Ramirez (neé Elizabeth Sergi), who is not a resident of CA-40, lives in the Santa Ana gated community of Rocking Horse Ridge. Ramirez’s primary source of income according to her financial disclosures is through the landlordship of over 10 single family homes as investment properties. Small scale landlords like Ramirez who take advantage of homeownership tax subsidies account for 85% of the investor-hoarded single family home inventory in Orange County and Riverside, directly contributing to the housing affordability crisis. Kim-Varet is the only candidate with a published housing affordability plan, which would exclude investment properties from these subsidies. Additionally, Ramirez was not registered to vote as a Democrat until August 2025, just before she filed to enter the CA-40 race. Planned Parenthood has assigned Ramirez, whose husband is a Catholic minister, a mixed score on women’s right to choose.
Democratic candidate Joe Kerr is a perennial candidate who has lost all previous races for elected office. In the 2022 CA-40 campaign, Kerr failed to raise enough money as a candidate to successfully compete, was outspent 20-to-1, and lost to Young Kim by a wide margin. Kerr’s long time Virginia-based campaign consultants i77Strategies (run by Trump booster Jeffrey Nickels) exclusively advise MAGA Republican candidates (Editor’s note: this campaign consultant also takes on Democratic clients and wa sresponsible for flipping the VA state assembly blue).
“Enough is enough,” said Esther Kim-Varet. “We have only one shot to do this. With 100 days until the primary, right now is the time to unite around a single viable campaign. For Ramirez or Kerr to insist on staying in as spoilers will imperil our prospects of unseating both Calvert and Kim — that is simply unpatriotic. If they refuse to exit the race, it’s on them if no Democrat advances to the general election. We need to get this done in order to help the residents of CA-40 who are suffering from the Trump Administration’s cascading cruelty and chaos. That’s why I’m fighting to Flip 40.”
Neither of Kim-Varet’s Democratic opponent candidates have demonstrated the resources nor the policies needed to flip CA-40. Kim-Varet is the only candidate who has conducted polling to demonstrate a pathway for victory
Kim-Varet’s campaign has received a string of high-profile endorsements, including every current and former elected official who has actually defeated Young Kim in past elections, as well as state and local leaders, current and former members of Congress, and national organizations including the Congressional AAPI Caucus PAC and VoteMama. With Kim-Varet’s viral social media reach of over 30 million people in the past month alone, and nationwide support from over 50,000 small dollar contributions to date, her campaign is poised to retire not one but two corrupt MAGA incumbents from Congress this November.
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California’s newly drawn 40th Congressional District, spanning portions of Riverside County and Orange County, is one of the most consequential U.S. House district battlegrounds in the nation. CA-40 includes the cities of Rancho Santa Margarita, Murrieta, Menifee, Lake Elsinore, Wildomar and Canyon Lake as well as parts of Mission Viejo, Orange, Anaheim, and Corona.
First-time candidate Esther Kim-Varet has raised over $2.6 million to date, powered by over 50,000 individual small dollar contributions from across the nation.
Esther is not a politician — she is a working mom of two young kids, running for Congress to restore the American Dream for all. In Congress, Esther will combat corruption, defend democracy, and fight for the middle class, small businesses, public education, and healthcare access.
This reeks of both arrogance and entitlement. It has already been established her poll excluded one of her main Democratic challengers. Meaning it is bogus at best. She received the fewest votes of any of the candidates for this office at the recent CA Democratic Convention. The poll that has (and rightfully so) the most attention is the one recently published by Rep. Young Kim. It shows Reps. Kim and Calvert in a three way tie with Democractic Candidate Joe Kerr. Even though Mr. Kerr has spent almost zero resources in this campaign. Mr. Kerr was conveniently left off Esther Kim-Varet’s poll. I would like Esther Kim-Varet to say why that was done. Even though I already know the answer.
But the real arrogance and entitlement is the demand that others drop out because she has the most money. That is a ridiculous premise.
I pointed out on another post.
If money mattered. CA would have had governors named; Checchi, Riordan, Simon, and Whitman. All of them were much better financed than the opponents who ultimately defeated them.
Maybe I missed something in my Civics class. But I was brought up believing the voters decided who represented them. NOT any one candidate.
It is not too late for Ms. Kim-Varet to move back to her home in Hancock Park (CA30) and run against Rep. Laura Friedman. She can easily combat corruption, defend democracy, and fight for the middle class, small businesses, public education, and healthcare access from there.
Filings are due March 6.
I agree with your assessment
It is completely untrue that my Tulchin Research poll excluded Kerr. In fact it included all five of the Democratic candidates who are currently registered with the FEC for CA-40, as well as the independent candidate, and it shows me winning the primary by a wide margin and in a dead heat to beat either incumbent in the general.
My campaign’s funding is not a bit more than the other candidates, it’s 15X more than either Ramirez or Kerr! That comes from over 30,000 individual donors at an average of under $30 each, only a small fraction from my own money that I proudly invested in this fight to help flip a seat. In Q4 zero of our fundraising was from me, while 40% of Ramirez Q4 funding was from her personally, and Kerr’s campaign is bankrupt with $8K cash and $20K in payables….
This is a war against fascism here not a city council race. Please review the assignment. My opponents are one woman who does not live in CA40 which is a non-starter, and a guy who completely botched and faceplanted the last election and whose campaign is being run by MAGA consultants. Also a nonstarter.
So for better or worse I’m the only game in town to take out Calvert and Kim. Hope you will help us Flip 40 and finally get rid of those two corrupt traitors!
Also @Ken Cooper … “move back where you came from” is NOT a good look for you or anyone, just saying. In fact it is Un-American. Maybe pick up a book on the history of OC redlining? I’m an American citizen and my family and I will live where we damn well want to.
I live in Coto de Caza just like Joe, both my kids go to elementary school inside the new CA40 district, and that’s all you need to know.
I appreciate your thoughtful reply.
If one’s campaign is as strong as they claim, why does it need fewer competitors to survive?
Confidence doesn’t issue ultimatums. It earns votes.
Because of the dynamics of the open primary with two incumbent republicans in a district with minority D registration. This is NOT a D primary it’s an open primary. If you think on the math of that you’ll understand — this is not the time to play games and take chances, our democracy is on the line. Why risk two republicans in the CA40 general?
Nobody else is coming to save CA 40 and America from Calvert and Kim — to have the best shot we the citizens of CA40 need to unite now around the most viable campaign.
This matters. We have only one shot, and cannot afford to waste it like CA40 did last cycle.
There is no ultimatum, I am appealing to Ramirez and Kerr with facts, not threatening them.
I get back to one of my original comments.
The voters should decide who represents them.
Not an agreement between candidates.
Again that logic is sensible in many elections, but just doesn’t make sense in this context because of the math in an open primary in a red leaning district with two well funded Republican incumbents
I am determined to unseat Calvert and Kim, whatever it takes. Let’s play to win this time around.
First off. I have faith in the electorate.
No constituency is monolithic.
The Dems need a candidate that can appeal to conservative leaning moderates and disgruntled conservatives.
Dems cannot win this election based solely upon registration.
Given those circumstances. There is only one candidate who has proven they can attract GOP votes.
Joe Kerr
lol you’re funny
She is a nobody.
Esther you should not have engaged. Pfft.
I am a small dollar contributor to Esther Kim-Varet’s campaign. I do not live anywhere near her district, but after seeing some of her ads and reading about her, I am impressed by her intellect, her writing, and her willingness to take on the unpleasant task of being a Democratic candidate in a Republican area of our state.
Reading some of the internet comments about her is a window back into the John Birch mentality that polluted the politics of Southern California in the last century.
Good luck to her and to the voters in her district who have the wisdom to support her.
Thank you Jeff!
She is coming off a lot like kamalalalalala.
Kamalalalala vibes
She is also delusional if she thinks Joe Kerr is gonna deal with her.
Shades of Joanne Weiss too.
Joanna
Oh you are paying attention. Lol! Thanks!! Joanna Weiss vibes too.
Interesting; this pops up in a search but there’s no story as of 1PM Monday March 1: https://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2026/03/ojbs-first-2026-endorsement-mark-newgent-in-tx-3/
Greg wrote this; so sloppy with facts that are so easy to find on this blog: I think that I became aware of him when he filed a defamation complaint against an anti-leftist competitor of mine in the county’s small blogging world, who I’ll call “Dan C” Dan C falsely accused him of something like stolen valor — and Newgent crushed him in court. He received a substantial damages award, which (as I recall) Dan C, who is a bit stubborn, pledged not to pay. At some point, an award signed by Dan C’s attorney ended up in Newgent’s hands — but Dan C continued to say that he had not provided the money. Charming, huh? I think that I contacted Newgent to congratulate him for standing up to thuggery — and that was just about it for a while.
I challenged Newgent’s ballot designation; it was the pandemic and Newget was interviewed by the OC Register tlaking about his successul start-up getting masksand PPE products that protected against Covid19. Mark claimed many happy customers in that story and on social media. In court, he field a letter to the judge claiming he had not made a thin dime from this business. We’vealso documented threats Mark has made to the IUSD school board, so honest and ethical…not Newman trails in this primary big time.
oh, and the damages Greg references were legal fees paid to Newgent’s lawyers who represented him for free; there were no damages awarded to Newgent himself
And Greg’s endorsement magic continues; Self wins 80.2 percent to Newgent’s 19.8 percent
I think they may be trolling you.