Rep. Ken Calvert, a Republican who has represented parts of Riverside County for more than three decades, was leading challenger Will Rollins in a rematch of their 2022 race for California’s 41st Congressional District. The Associated Press hasn’t called the race yet, but Calvert claimed victory on his social media accounts Monday, thanking Riverside County voters who have “once again placed their trust in me.”

Rollins wasn’t giving up. There could still be at least 80,000 votes left to count between mail ballots and conditional ballots, he said in a statement Monday, declaring the race “too close to call.” 

The Rollins campaign cited discrepancies in the total number of ballots the Riverside County Registrar of Voters has reportedly received by mail. There are more than 40,000 unprocessed ballots from the district, more than 35,000 uncounted ballots and more than 11,000 conditional ballots, his campaign estimated.

The 41st District also has the highest number of “uncured” ballots — those with small technical errors — of any competitive congressional race in California. Rollins argues the remaining ballots could still move the needle on the race.

“Our campaign is following the election results extremely closely, with eyes and ears at the Registrar of Voters every single day,” Rollins said. 

His challenge to Calvert was one of a handful of swing races that could decide which party controls the House of Representatives. But Republicans are well on their way to taking both the House and Senate, along with the White House, regardless of final results in the Inland Empire.

Palm Springs Councilmember Lisa Middleton conceded her race for California’s new 19th Senate District to incumbent State Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh. The candidates were statistically tied when polls closed last week, but Ochoa Bogh’s lead widened in the following days to more than 7 points Tuesday.

“I congratulate my opponent Senator Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh,” Middleton said in a statement. “I wish her success and promise cooperation in representing the people of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. … We have lost a race. We remain steadfast to our values. I will continue to work with all who are committed to freedom, fairness, and opportunity for all.”

And Republican Assemblymember Greg Wallis inched ahead of Palm Springs City Councilmember Christy Holstege by a fraction of a point in the race for the 47th state Assembly District, reversing her slight lead. That race, divided by just a few hundred votes, is still listed as a close contest on the Secretary of State’s website.

The state Senate and Assembly races won’t change the political equation in California’s legislature, where Democrats still hold a supermajority.

However, all three races dampen their supporters’ hopes of increasing LGBTQ representation in California. Rollins, a former federal prosecutor, is gay. Middleton is a former state administrator, and hoped to become the first transgender lawmaker in California if elected. Holstege, a civil rights attorney, identifies as bisexual.

None of them made sexual or gender identity a centerpiece of their campaigns, instead focusing on issues such as infrastructure, the environment and public safety. But LGBTQ leaders in the Coachella Valley, which is part of all three districts, said they’re bracing for rollbacks of civil rights including attacks on same-sex marriage and transgender protections under a second Trump administration, the Desert Sun reported. 

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Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California announced Sunday that he won’t enter the competitive Democratic primary to fill retiring Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s senate seat in the Golden State, electing to endorse Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee instead.

“I have concluded that despite a lot of enthusiasm from Bernie [Sanders’] folks, the best place, the most exciting place, action place, fit place, for me to serve as a progressive is in the House of Representatives,” Khanna told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”

“And I’m honored to be co-chairing Barbara Lee’s campaign for the Senate and endorsing her today. We need a strong anti-war senator and she will play that role.”

The Democratic field to fill Feinstein’s seat also includes Reps. Adam Schiff and Katie Porter, who announced their bids earlier this year. Khanna had previously expressed interest in running for the vacant seat.

Lee, who announced her bid last month, is a member of the House Democratic leadership, serving as co-chair of the Democratic Steering Committee, and she was the former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Throughout her time in Congress, Lee has served as the co-chair and whip of the Progressive Caucus. And before coming to Washington, she spent several years serving in the California state legislature.

If elected, Lee would be the sole Black female senator serving in the Congress and only the third in US history.

Lee, Khanna said Sunday, is a “unique voice. She was the lone vote against the endless war in Afghanistan. She stood up so strongly against the war in Iraq. She worked with me in trying to stop the war in Yemen, the War Powers Resolution. And frankly, Jake, representation matters. We don’t have a single African American woman in the United States Senate.”

Currently, Lee is at a disadvantage compared to her well-funded rivals. She had just $52,000 in cash on hand entering 2023, according to FEC filings, while Schiff had more than $20 million stockpiled at the end of the year and Porter had more than $7.4 million.

Under California’s primary system, all candidates run on the same ballot, with the top two candidates, regardless of party, advancing to the general election.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, who rose to national prominence as the lead prosecutor in President Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial, said Thursday he is running for the Senate seat held by long-serving Democrat Dianne Feinstein.

The 2024 race is quickly emerging as a marquee Senate contest, even though the 89-year-old Feinstein, the oldest member of Congress, has yet to announce if she will seek another term, though her retirement is widely expected. Schiff is jumping in two weeks after Rep. Katie Porter became the first candidate to declare her campaign for the safe Democratic seat.

Schiff, a former federal prosecutor, made clear he intends to anchor his candidacy to his role as Trump’s chief antagonist in Congress. In his campaign kickoff video, he said the “biggest job of his life” was serving as impeachment manager, and he promised to continue to be a “fighter” for democracy.

“If our democracy isn’t delivering for Americans, they’ll look for alternatives, like a dangerous demagogue who promises that he alone can fix it,” Schiff said of Trump, who has announced his 2024 campaign for the presidency.

Feinstein, a former San Francisco mayor who joined the Senate in 1992, told reporters in Washington this week that she will make a decision about 2024 in the “next couple of months.”

The jockeying for the seat has created a politically awkward dynamic for Feinstein, who has broken gender barriers throughout her decadeslong career in local and national politics. In recent years, questions have arisen about her cognitive health and memory, though she has defended her effectiveness in representing a state that is home to nearly 40 million people.

Schiff, 62, said in an interview Thursday that he had spoken to Feinstein a day earlier to inform her about his plans.

“I want to make sure that everything I did was respectful of her and that I did so with her knowledge and her blessing,” Schiff told The Associated Press.

Asked if he was aware of the senator’s plans, Schiff said, “I don’t want to presume to speak for Sen. Feinstein, and I think she’s earned the right to announce her decision when she’s ready to make that announcement.”

Schiff was first elected to Congress in 2000 and represents parts of Hollywood. He has been a frequent target of conservatives — Trump in particular — since the then-GOP-led House Intelligence Committee he served on started investigating Trump’s ties to Russia in the 2016 election. Schiff appeared frequently on television to question Trump’s actions.

That criticism intensified when Democrats took the House majority in early 2019 and he became the committee chair, and it reached a full-on roar with his role in the impeachment investigation of Trump’s dealings with Ukraine. Trump was impeached in December 2019 on charges he abused the power of the presidency to investigate rival Joe Biden and obstructed Congress’ investigation.

In an impassioned plea to the Senate in early 2020, Schiff urged Trump’s removal from office and framed the choice in moral terms. “If right doesn’t matter, we’re lost,” he said at the time.

“You know you can’t trust this president do what’s right for this country,” Schiff said. “You can trust he will do what’s right for Donald Trump. He’ll do it now. He’s done it before. He’ll do it for the next several months, he’ll do it in the election if he’s allowed to. This is why if you find him guilty you must find that he should be removed. Because right matters.”

The Republican-led Senate acquitted Trump of both charges. In 2021, he became the first president in U.S. history to be impeached twice, this time for inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol after he lost the 2020 election. He was again acquitted by the Senate.

Republicans are still angry about Schiff’s starring role at the impeachment trial, with new House Speaker Kevin McCarthy accusing him of using his leadership position to “lie to the American public again and again.” McCarthy, R-Calif., said this week that he intended to block Schiff from continuing his service on the House Intelligence Committee.

With the centrist Feinstein in the twilight of her career, the race in the heavily Democratic state already is shaping up as a showcase for an ambitious, younger generation on the party’s left wing.

Both Schiff and Porter are nationally recognized — Schiff through his leading impeachment role and Porter, a favorite of the party’s progressive wing, through her tough questioning of CEOs and other witnesses at congressional hearings. Each is also a formidable small-dollar fundraiser.

Neither has run statewide before, and each would face the challenge of becoming better known beyond their Southern California districts. Democrats are expected to dominate the contest — a Republican hasn’t won a statewide race in California since 2006, and the past two Senate elections had only Democrats on the November ballot.

The field is expected to grow, with other possible contenders including Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee, a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Asked how he would stand out in what is expected to be a crowded field, Schiff said he would emphasize his central role of national struggles over democracy and the economy.

“I think that record of leadership, that record of staunch defense of our democracy, and the way that I’ve championed an economy that works for everyone, I think are a powerful record to run on,” he said.

In his announcement video, Schiff mixed shots of his family and highlights from his courtroom work with video from the impeachment proceedings and clips of Trump and other Republicans.

He warns that the threat of extremism is not over.

“Today’s Republican Party is gutting the middle class, threatening our democracy” Schiff says. “They aren’t going to stop. We have to stop them.”

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By gov.ca.gov

In a critical floor vote, Governor Gavin Newsom’s proposed CARE Court received 38-0 approval by state Senators in an overwhelming show of support. Governor Newsom’s CARE Court coalition also continues to build momentum with the addition of key business organizations, which include the California Chamber of Commerce, the California Downtown Association and 21 local chambers of commerce from throughout the state. Collectively, these organizations represent thousands of California businesses.

Prior to affirmative Senate floor vote, the CARE Court bill – SB 1338 by Senators Tom Umberg and Susan Eggman – passed the Senate Appropriations committee in a 7-0 vote last week. This means that CARE Court has been considered by three separate committees and has passed every single one without any opposing votes, and has now cleared the Senate with bipartisan support.

“With broad support from California’s state Senate, CARE Court is one step closer to becoming a reality in California,” said Governor Newsom, “I am also grateful to have the California Chamber of Commerce, the California Downtown Association, and 21 local chambers of commerce join our ever-expanding CARE Court coalition, which includes a diverse group of supporters focused on tackling the challenge of severe mental illness that too often leaves individuals on our streets without hope.”

“The California Chamber of Commerce and our colleagues from throughout the state are pleased to support Governor Newsom and his vision to provide support for those suffering from severe mental illness and substance use disorders through the newly proposed CARE Court plan,” said Jennifer Barrera, President and CEO of the California Chamber of Commerce. “CARE Court is a thoughtful, measured response to the tragedy of untreated mental illness impacting thousands of individuals. California employers have a clear stake in seeing the success of CARE Court as many business owners and their employees experience, first-hand, the impacts of inadequate policies that fail to address the needs of those individuals suffering on our streets and in our communities.”

“The establishment of CARE Court represents a new approach to early intervention and will help people get the support they deserve by addressing their underlying needs,” said Rena Leddy, President of the California Downtown Association. “We appreciate the Governor’s leadership on this important issue, and we are pleased to support this legislation.”

This announcement expands the growing coalition of supporters which includes state and local officials, families, first responders, health care professionals, behavioral health providers, civil rights groups, faith leaders and business groups, all in strong support of CARE Court.

CARE Court provides Californians suffering with untreated schizophrenia spectrum or other psychotic disorders with community-based treatment, services, and housing, and is intended to serve as an upstream intervention for the most severely impaired Californians.

The bill vote reflects new additions to the CARE Court framework – particularly to strengthen the housing component of the CARE plan and to detail other key elements, like court process and data collection. These amendments were developed in consultation with a wide range of stakeholders, which are ongoing.

CARE Court builds on Governor Newsom’s $14.7 billion multi-year investment to provide 55,000 new housing units and treatment slots and more than $11 billion annually in community behavioral health services. The Governor’s approach focuses on quickly rehousing unsheltered individuals with behavioral health issues, all as new units come online, while also transforming Medi-Cal to provide more behavioral health services to people struggling the most. For more information visit https://www.chhs.ca.gov/care-court/.

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