Kim Varet Remains The Only Viable Candidate Challenging Young Kim;
Pledges That Her Campaign Will Accept No Corporate PAC Contributions

Tustin, CA – Today, CA-40 mom and small business owner Esther Kim Varet announced that in the race to unseat MAGA Republican Young Kim - as of the end of Q2 2025 - she has:

• raised more than 2x the combined CA-40 Democratic field, 

• raised more than 3x any other CA-40 Democratic campaign, and 

• has more than 4x the cash on hand of any other Democratic challenger
  

Kim Varet outpaced the other campaigns while taking $0 in corporate PAC contributions, despite being the only campaign in the CA-40 race that has pledged to reject corporate contributions.

MAGA Republican Young Kim is funded by numerous substantial contributions from corporations and industry groups that she is supposed to oversee as a member of the House Financial Services Committee, direct evidence of her shameless ‘pay to play’ corruption. According to OpenSecrets, Kim has taken almost $1.5M from the finance industry and $140K from fossil fuel polluters.

Just a sampling of Rep. Kim’s major corporate donors in Q2 2025 include: State Farm, Wells Fargo, Deloitte, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Citigroup, PG&E, KPMG, Google, Ernst & Young, PWC, Cox, and Chevron.

“The reality, in the wake of Citizens United, is that flipping swing district seats like CA-40 requires winning a fundraising war. In her last election, Young Kim had a 500%+ funding advantage vs her Democratic opponent, which allowed her to retain her seat despite obvious duplicity and shameless corruption. We cannot let that happen again. Mine is the only campaign in this race with the fundraising viability to unseat Young Kim, help pull the emergency brake on the Trump train wreck, and restore sanity to America,” said Esther Kim Varet. “Together with my coalition of patriotic CA-40 Democrat, independent, and Republican voters and donors, we will flip CA-40 next November and win back the House majority.”

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California’s 40th is a Congressional District representing portions of Orange County, Riverside County, and San Bernardino County in Southern California. CA-40’s constituents voted for Joe Biden over Donald Trump in 2020. House Majority PAC lists CA-40 as a top target, the DCCC lists CA-40 as a “District in Play”, and the Cook Political Report Partisan Voter Index (PVI) ranks the district as one of the 10 most vulnerable House seats with a Republican incumbent in the nation. Esther Kim Varet raised over $1 million in Q1 2025, outpacing the combined Democratic field by over 2.5x.

Incumbent Republican Young Kim’s support for MAGA policies, including a federal ban on abortion even in cases of rape and incest, support of the GOP budget bill that would strip 40,000+ of her constituents from Medicaid, blocking legislation to lower the cost of prescription drugs, and rejection of common sense gun safety, have made Kim extremely vulnerable. In contrast, Esther Kim Varet will always vote to protect women’s right to choose, provide access to healthcare, lower prescription drug costs, and support responsible gun safety.

CA-40 includes the cities of Yorba Linda, Anaheim Hills, Orange, Chino Hills, Tustin, Mission Viejo, Aliso Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, Laguna Hills, Laguna Woods, Villa Park, Lake Forest, the unincorporated communities of North Tustin and Coto de Caza, and parts of Brea and Corona.