Esther Kim-Varet Closes Q1 With $1.15 Million Cash on Hand, Cementing Lead as the Strongest Democrat to Flip CA-40

New TV and Digital Ad Hits the Air as Campaign Surpasses $2.3 Million Raised This Cycle and Tops 200 Volunteers, Sharpening the Contrast With Republicans Ken Calvert and Young Kim

ORANGE COUNTY, CA / ACCESS Newswire / April 20, 2026 / Esther Kim-Varet, the Democratic frontrunner for California’s 40th Congressional District, raised $341,992.72 in the first quarter of 2026 and closed the period with $1,149,932.07 cash on hand, according to the campaign’s FEC report filed Wednesday. The quarter pushes her cycle-to-date fundraising past $3 million, entirely from individual grassroots donors, and gives her a commanding war chest heading into the June 2 primary and a general election against two entrenched Republican incumbents, Ken Calvert and Young Kim.

CA-40 is a 2026 DCCC target, and the race has drawn unusual attention since Proposition 50 redrew the district and forced Rep. Young Kim and Rep. Ken Calvert into the same seat, a collision that has scrambled the GOP field and opened a path for a disciplined, well-funded Democrat.

Kim-Varet’s Q1 receipts came overwhelmingly from individuals: $110,908.08 in itemized contributions and $231,084.64 in unitemized small-dollar contributions, for a total of $341,992.72 from individual donors this period, with an average donation of $27. The campaign has refused corporate and foreign interest PAC money. The result is a donor base that is broad, renewable, and insulated from the kind of corporate interests that have backed Calvert and Kim for decades.

On the ground, the campaign now counts more than 200 trained volunteers knocking doors, making calls, and organizing in Orange and Riverside counties, from Rancho Santa Margarita to Corona to Murrieta. That operation will scale sharply through the primary.

“Every number in this report is a voter who believes we can do better than Ken Calvert and Young Kim,” said Esther Kim-Varet. “Between them, these two have spent nearly 50 years in Washington voting to gut health care, protect corporate donors, and rubber-stamp an agenda that is making life more expensive for my community.”

The fundraising announcement comes as the campaign launches this week with a targeted television and digital advertisement introducing Kim-Varet to voters across CA-40. The 30-second ad is part of a sustained paid-media program produced by ArmourEvans, the firm that powered Reps. Derek Tran and Dave Min to Red to Blue victories in Orange County last cycle. Leading up to the June 2 primary, these commercial ads are in addition to programs already in motion, including weekly mail drops by Solidary Strategies, a targeted text message campaign by KeyLime Strategies, and more than 2,300 paid signs installed throughout the District by IMPACT.

Campaign Manager Nubia Diaz remarks, “No other Democrat in this race is close on cash on hand, on grassroots donors or on organization. With more than $1.1 million in the bank, 200-plus volunteers, and a new ad hitting the airwaves, we are building the kind of campaign it actually takes to flip a seat like this. Democrats have one shot to retire Young Kim and Ken Calvert. If we want the job done, it’s time to unite now.”

Proposition 50, approved by California voters in November 2025, reshaped the congressional map and placed Calvert and Young Kim on the same ballot in the new CA-40. Both voted for the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill,” legislation that Democrats say will strip health coverage from tens of thousands of CA-40 constituents, raise costs for seniors, and balloon the deficit to pay for tax cuts skewed to the wealthiest. Kim-Varet has made those votes central to her case, arguing that neither Calvert’s 30-plus years in Washington nor Kim’s record as a reliable vote for the Trump agenda reflects the values of the families, workers, and small business owners who actually live in the district.

The campaign enters the next phase with a clear financial edge over every Democratic primary rival, a seasoned team (including strategists who have beaten Young Kim before), endorsements from the Congressional AAPI Caucus PAC (ASPIRE), Vote Mama, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, Rep. Marilyn Strickland, Rep. Gil Cisneros, and a growing list of California officials, and a message built for a district hungry for change.

About Esther Kim-Varet

Esther Kim-Varet is a first-generation Korean American, working mom, and small business owner running for Congress in California’s 40th District. The daughter of North Korean refugees, she built a nationally recognized small business from the ground up and is running to lower costs for working families, protect reproductive freedom, defend Social Security and Medicare, and restore honest, accountable representation to a district that has been taken for granted by career politicians for too long.

CONTACT:

Esther Kim-Varet for Congress
info@estherkimvaret.com

SOURCE: Esther Kim-Varet for Congress

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