In recent days, art dealer Esther Kim Varet, the owner of the Various Small Fires gallery, which has locations in Los Angeles, Dallas, and Seoul, has been informing colleagues that she plans to run for the U.S. House of Representatives, while teasing an official announcement on Instagram.

“Stay tuned this week—big news coming out soon,” Kim Varet wrote in an Instagram post of herself smiling wide on horseback, evoking Theodore Roosevelt or perhaps Ronald Reagan. Her location is tagged as “U.S. Congress.” Listed in her bio: “U.S. Congressional Candidate.”

In a letter to potential supporters (two shared it with me), Kim Varet said that she intends to run as a Democrat in California’s 40th Congressional District, which encompasses Orange, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties, with the aim of unseating Republican Young Kim in the 2026 election. With the Senate and Supreme Court firmly in Republican control, winning back the House “will be our only opportunity to check the Trump administration,” she writes.

“It’s been kind of whirlwind. I just decided six weeks ago that I was going to do it,” Kim Varet said when I reached her by phone in L.A., where she opened her gallery in 2012. (Its name borrows part of the title of a 1964 book by Ed Ruscha; its roster includes Jessie Homer French, Mark Yang, and Wendy Park.)

Kim Varet—the inspiration for the ambitious art-dealer character Soojin on Lena Dunham’s hit show Girls—said that she believes her extensive experience fundraising in the art world has readied her to mount a campaign. “I know how to raise money, and I’m getting my friends to help me,” she said, mentioning that she had contacted about 50 fellow dealers about her political ambitions.

 

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“I think it’s time we show D.C. that the art world is a serious voting bloc, and a serious fundraising bloc,” she added.

There is a small but storied history of art types running for office. Dealer Stefan Simchowitz ran for the U.S. Senate in California last year as a Republican, finishing with 0.24 percent of the vote. Beto O’Rourke, a former House member from Texas, was an art handler long before his failed presidential run in 2020. Back in the 1960s, artist Bruce Conner ran for a seat on the board of city supervisors in San Francisco.

“Both the Dems and the Republicans have totally gutted everything in the arts,” Kim Varet said. “They’ve discounted our voice in any decision-making process. I want to show them that we’re like AIPAC, like a formidable force.”

Young Kim won her House seat in 2020 with about 50.6 percent of the vote, edging out an incumbent Democrat by about 4,000 votes. She carried her district with about 55.3 percent of the vote this past November. Like Kim Varet, she is Korean American.

“There is nearly a 50/50 split of registered Democrats and Republicans in this district, which makes it ripe to flip,” Kim Varet writes in her letter. “The Democratic Party just needs a well-spoken young Korean American woman—with dual language skills and a robust fundraising network—driven enough to do the job. In comes Esther, the only candidate near Young Kim’s district that fits the bill.”

Various Small Fires “will continue operating as-is,” Kim Varet writes. “Almost all political candidates retain full time jobs while running. In fact, plans for VSF’s expansion into Orange County will be announced in two weeks.”