Two Republican incumbents, Rep. Ken Calvert of Corona and Rep. Young Kim of Anaheim Hills, are expected to face off in the November general election for California’s 40th Congressional District.
The Associated Press projected on Tuesday evening that Kim would advance to the general election runoff in November, joining Calvert, who is leading the contest.
“I am grateful for the support of everyone who helped us earn a place on the November ballot,” Kim said. “Throughout this campaign, we made the case that after more than three decades in Washington, it is time for fresh conservative leadership, and I look forward to continuing that conversation with voters in the months ahead.”
Esther Kim-Varet, an art gallery owner who lives in Cota de Caza, was in third place Tuesday.
That means Democrats are locked out of the race for California’s 40th Congressional District. That result isn’t surprising given that the seat, which straddles Orange and Riverside counties, was designed last year, in part, to syphon Republican voters away from other congressional districts.
After redistricting, the 40th is one of only a handful of California house seats where Republicans hold a registration advantage, with 39.93% of voters registered with the GOP, 31.16% registered as Democrat, and 21.09% registered as no-party preference.
The new configuration set up the 40th as a bitter and expensive primary, with two sitting House members expected to battle for their political survival. And that’s how it played out, with Calvert and Kim — through their own campaigns and with the help of outside groups and independent expenditures — aggressively hammering one another with negative and personal ads.
At the center of it all was President Donald Trump.
Both Calvert, 73, and Kim, 63, issued advertising and public statements to tell primary voters that they, not their opponent, were most loyal to Trump. Both accused each other of being secretly liberal or not MAGA enough.
On Tuesday evening, after the AP called the race, Kim continued to align herself with Trump.
“As a member of Congress, I have proudly worked with President Trump to get real results for our community, and I will continue fighting to root out fraud, secure borders, for safer, more affordable communities and a stronger economy,” Kim said. “In November, voters will have a clear choice between 30 years of the status quo and a new generation of conservative leadership, and I look forward to earning every vote.”
Calvert, meanwhile, pointed to his large lead in the primary.
“I am honored to have earned the trust of voters across the entire district, including beating Young Kim in her own backyard in Orange County and among the Riverside County voters I’ve had the honor of serving for many years,” Calvert said Tuesday night in a statement. “Voters throughout the district recognize I’m an effective member of Congress with a history of delivering results, cutting taxes, and making life more affordable.”
It’s unclear if the pro-Trump messaging will work as well over the next few months, when Democrats in the district will have a say in which of the two Republicans will represent them.
Kim-Varet was also not immediately available for comment Tuesday night. But in an interview last week, she criticized Democratic leadership for not doing more to consolidate the Democratic vote behind one candidate.
“There were people in this race that didn’t do any of the work, didn’t have any of the money,” she said. “They were the Antonio Villaraigosas in the district who stayed in and pulled votes away that we needed to get into the top two.”
Other candidates included retired firefighter captain Joe Kerr, who unsuccessfully challenged Kim in 2024; lawyer Lisa Ramirez, who represented the Tustin father of three U.S. Marines who was detained by federal immigration authorities last year; and Nina Linh, a nonprofit executive who decided to run as an independent in the race. Attorney Francis Xavier Hoffman and retired Army officer Claude Keissieh are also ran as Democrats.
Combined, the Democrats who trailed Kim-Varet currently have more than 26% of the votes counted.
As election eyes turn to the general, at stake is whether Calvert, first elected in 1993, will continue his tenure as the Inland Empire’s longest-serving congress member, or if Kim, a former Assembly member who joined Congress in 2021 as one of the first Korean American women in Congress, will remain.
Staff writer Jeff Horseman contributed to this report.
