Esther Kim Varet, an art dealer and founder of Various Small Fires, a homegrown gallery with locations in Los Angeles, Dallas, Seoul and soon Tustin, is running for California’s 40th Congressional District.
A lot has led her to this moment, but Kim Varet said the tipping point came when President Donald Trump returned to office alongside a Republican-controlled Congress after the 2024 election, “undoing progress” on issues she holds dear.
“I see what we could lose, and what we are losing every day,” said Kim Varet, a Democrat.
Waking up to headlines about the Trump administration rolling back diversity, equity and inclusion efforts — or dismantling the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, which advised the president on cultural policy — has been eye-opening, Kim Varet said. The committee, which dissolved twice under Trump — first in 2017 when members resigned in protest and again during his second term — was reinstated by former President Joe Biden in 2022 to advise him on arts, humanities and library services.
“I’m first and foremost an art historian,” said Kim Varet, who earned an art history degree from Yale University and a Ph.D. in the field from Columbia University.
“In an era when we need an educated public, (the administration) is stripping away the tools and mechanisms that keep people engaged and educated,” she said. “With the rise of AI (artificial intelligence), our creativity is going to be one of the biggest assets. But when you systematically stifle creativity, you are stifling what makes America great and what makes capitalism great in America.”
Her gallery, Various Small Fires, often highlights art that explores social justice, climate activism and the power structures shaping American politics.
California’s 40th Congressional District spans western San Bernardino and Riverside counties and eastern Orange County. It’s represented by Rep. Young Kim, R-Anaheim Hills, who plans to run for reelection in 2026, spokesperson Callie Strock said.
Republicans, according to the secretary of state’s latest tally of voter registration data from late October, make up 38.29% of registered voters, while Democrats are at 33.46% and 21.98% have no party preference.
Kim won reelection to a third term in 2024, garnering 55.3.% of the vote in the race with Democrat Joe Kerr.
Kim made history alongside Rep. Marilyn Strickland, D-Washington, and former Rep. Michelle Steel, R-Seal Beach, as the first Korean American women elected to Congress.
If elected next November, Kim Varet would join the ranks of Korean Americans in Congress.
Born in Dallas in the 80s to Korean immigrant parents, Kim Varet’s identity is a melting pot. Her grandparents fled North Korea during the Korean War, and her parents, who immigrated to Texas in their 20s, built and rebuilt their lives after a failed mushroom farm left the family with almost nothing.
“I think it’s easy for people to assume that I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth,” Kim Varet said. “I wasn’t.”
By the time Kim Varet was in middle school, her father had bought their first home, and her family was on their way to stability. Kim Varet attended top universities and launched her gallery from her Venice Beach kitchen in 2012 while working on her doctoral dissertation.
“That is what gave me the backbone to then continue building and looking for opportunities for myself in the future,” Kim Varet said. “And I feel like it’s such a familiar story to so many people in Orange County.”
A self-described “builder and fighter,” Kim Varet said she’s running on a platform focused on economic relief for small businesses and working- and middle-class families, affordable health care and protecting access to abortion, contraception and in vitro fertilization.
Kim Varet said economic issues aren’t just political talking points; they’re personal to her. As a small business owner, she’s experienced firsthand how rising costs affect both employees and the employer.
“I don’t have hundreds of employees, but the employees that I do have, they’re like family to me, so when the cost of living goes up for them, I know that they’re stressed out because they need a raise to feel like they can keep up,” Kim Varet said. “And then I’m stressed out because the cost of doing business is increasing, too.”
“The first cuts come with me. … I have to make those tough decisions all the time, and that kind of weight and understanding of those anxieties on a fundamental level of the people that are living through it every day is incredibly informative in how someone goes to D.C.,” she added.
Business is only one of many lenses through which Kim Varet says she sees the world.
Growing up in a Baptist church and attending a Christian private school for 13 years, Kim Varet said she learned how to connect with people from all walks of life — something she sees as essential in today’s divided political landscape.
“My family and my friendship roots are very religious, and I understand that that is part of my blood, too. So when issues like pro-life and pro-choice come up … what I believe doesn’t necessarily mean you have to believe it, too, right? I really feel like at this point in history, we need leaders that know how to unite people,” she said.
“I actually don’t care if you voted for Trump in the last election,” she said. “If you have common sense, come talk to me.”
Kim Varet, who also has a home in Aliso Viejo, said she plans to give voters plenty of opportunities to meet her in person — but not just through the typical town hall, precinct walk or campaign event.
While still in its early stages of planning, Kim Varet and her team want to launch a mobile coffee truck called “Common Ground” that will travel throughout the district, allowing voters to meet her, ask questions and share their concerns.
Her soon-to-open gallery in Tustin — set to open in the spring with exhibitions focused on the cultural history of Orange County — will also serve as a space for community conversations.
“I want to create mobile spaces where people can come meet me,” Kim Varet said. “I just want to really listen to people, I want to understand their needs … and those needs are changing every day, every hour.”
