Kimberlin Brown Pelzer, a soap opera actress-turned-avocado grower, announced on Tuesday her candidacy for Coachella Valley’s congressional seat, becoming one of potentially two Republicans looking to parlay their TV presence into a political career.
Best known for playing the villainous Sheila Carter on “The Young and the Restless” and “The Bold and the Beautiful,” Brown Pelzer also owns an interior design company and, with her husband, Gary, a sports fishing and marina rental business in San Diego, among others.
"The reason I'm running for office is because for the first time in our country we’re not leaving behind something better for the next generation," she said.
Brown Pelzer recently moved to Palm Springs, but told The Desert Sun that she's been attending charity events in the desert for more than two decades and that her financial services company has been operating ATMs here for seven years.
She closed out the second day of the Republican National Convention in 2016, scoring early points with local GOP organizers for her backing of Donald Trump and her complaints about taxes and small business regulations. She also criticized "suspect trade deals" that create foreign competition at home and can leave American workers unemployed.
The immediate reaction from Republican activists was positive.
“I know this is the person who’s going to win,” Joy Miedecke, chair of the East Valley Republican Women Federated, said on Tuesday.
