Kat Schuster, Patch Staff
RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — Long-serving Republican Rep. Ken Calvert has declared victory over the Inland Empire’s 41st Congressional District.
The Associated Press declared Calvert the winner of the competitive district on Wednesday afternoon. He is now poised to serve a 17th term, making him the longest-serving Republican in the California congressional delegation.
Ahead of his projected victory, GOP incumbent posted a message to his followers on social media on Monday, announcing his defeat of Rollins and thanking voters for their support. Calvert (R-Corona), 71, has served in various congressional districts — 42nd, 44th, 43rd and now 41st — since 1993.
“I’m honored that Riverside County voters have once again placed their trust in me to continue delivering results for them in Washington,” Calvert said. “This is a hard-fought victory that shows voters want someone who will put results over partisan politics.”
But his 40-year-old competitor from Palm Springs has not conceded and said earlier this week that it was still too soon to declare victory.
Coby Eiss, Rollins’ campaign manager, told Patch that they would have a statement after Wednesday night’s votes are tallied.
After Calvert declared a win on Monday, Eiss responded with a statement on Monday, insisting that there are tens of thousands of votes left to be counted across the Inland Empire. With vote-by-mail ballots and conditional ballots still rolling in, it’s too soon to declare victory, according to Eiss.
“We view the race as too close to call and will continue to monitor the results as we wait for potentially 20% or more of the electorate to have their voice heard,” Eiss said.
According to the latest tallies from the Secretary of State, Calvert was pulling ahead with 51.3% of the vote (161,202) and Rollins was trailing close behind with 48.7% of votes (153,079).
Across Riverside County, an estimated 70,000 vote-by-mail and 35,000 conditional ballots remain to be counted, according to the latest update from the Riverside County Registrar of Voters.
The 41st Congressional District is diverse and encompasses a vast swath of Riverside County. It includes the cities of Corona, Norco, Lake Elsinore, Wildomar, Canyon Lake, Menifee, Calimesa, Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, La Quinta, Indian Wells, and portions of Eastvale and Riverside. The district also includes the unincorporated areas of El Sobrante, Woodcrest, Temescal Valley, Lakeview, Nuevo, Homeland, Winchester, Cherry Valley, Anza, Pine Cove and Idyllwild.
The latest public disagreement from the candidates comes as many races balanced on a knife’s edge in the days following the election. In California, many neck-and-neck races are being closely watched as election officials work through hundreds of thousands of ballots.
The 41st is a closely watched race nationwide because it could help determine the balance of power in the U.S. House of Representatives next year.
Statewide, only about three-quarters of its votes have been counted. This isn’t unusual or unexpected, as the nation’s most populous state is consistently among the slowest to report all its election results.
Although the results are far from final, Republicans in California appeared to gain ground in several races. For the presidential race, voters just barely flipped the county red, according to the latest returns. But ultimately, voters seemed to be split evenly when choosing between President-elect Donald Trump, who received 407,140 votes and Vice President Kamala Harris, who got 403,588 from county voters.
There’s still room for Trump’s near 40% margin to shift in the Golden State as the Associated Press estimates elections officials have only counted about 76% of the vote. Vice President Kamala Harris currently leads Trump by 20.8 points in California, with 58.9% of the total — or 7,721,839 — votes.
Lawmakers in California designed their elections to improve accessibility and increase turnout. Whether it’s automatically receiving a ballot at home, having up until Election Day to turn it in or having several days to address any problems that may arise with their ballot, Californians have a lot of time and opportunity to vote. It comes at the expense of knowing the final vote counts soon after polls close.
“Our priority is trying to maximize participation of actively registered voters,” said Democratic Assemblymember Marc Berman, who authored the 2021 bill that permanently switched the state to all-mail elections. “What that means is things are a little slower. But in a society that wants immediate gratification, I think our democracy is worth taking a little time to get it right and to create a system where everyone can participate.”