Gov. Gavin Newsom called the special election last month after President Donald Trump appointed Assemblymember Bill Essayli to serve as U.S. Attorney in early April. If no one gets a majority of the vote in June, the top two candidates will face off in an Aug. 26 runoff.

The new 63rd District assemblymember will represent Norco, Menifee, Lake Elsinore, Canyon Lake as well as parts of Eastvale, Riverside and Corona. Four candidates have entered the race:

• Chris Shoults (Democrat), a business owner and educator
• Natasha Johnson (Republican), a Lake Elsinore councilmember and business owner
• Vincent Romo (Republican), a history professor and former athlete
• Zachary T. Consalvo (Libertarian), a businessman and public servant

Assembly District 63 in Riverside County. (California State Assembly)

Johnson, who announced her candidacy on April 3, pledged to bring “common sense” back to Sacramento. The Republican has already received an endorsement from Essayli.

“I’ve selected Natash because I know that she is a fighter and she will carry on my message and the battles that we’ve had in Sacramento whether that’s on public safety or parental rights,” Essayli said.

“What an honor to continue to serve and keep the charge going for Assemblyman Essayli,” she said.

She has also received endorsements from Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, who is running for governor in 2026.

Meanwhile, Shoults emphasized his focus on lowering the cost of living, education reform, and economic diversity.

“No more self-serving political agendas and partisan games,” Shoults said in a statement. “It’s time for real leadership and representation that puts people first.”

Romo, who says he’s self-funding his campaign, described himself as a data-driven outsider ready to challenge the establishment.

“My candidacy is not about power, but representation by the people, for the people,” he wrote in a statement on Wednesday.

Consalvo says he is the only candidate with experience across education, poverty alleviation, community outreach, agriculture, and government. His platform centers on sweeping reforms to improve government transparency and community representation. He proposes annual tax audits, salary caps for local officials, and restrictions on government retirees working as consultants.

When And Where To Vote In the Special Election

Election Day: Tuesday, June 24, 2025

Vote-by-Mail Ballots:

• Mailed to 315,000 registered voters on May 27
• Must be postmarked by June 24 and received by July 1
• No postage necessary
• Can be returned by mail, at official drop boxes, or at any vote center within District 63

Drop Box & Vote Center Info:

• Two 24-hour drop boxes are available at: 2720 & 2724 Gateway Drive, Riverside

In-Person Voting:

• Early Voting: May 27 through Election Day Monday, Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (excluding holidays)
• Election Day Hours: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Riverside County Registrar’s office.

Registration Deadline:

• Must register or update info by June 9
• Register online at registertovote.ca.gov or call (951) 486-7200 for a paper application

The post 4 Compete For RivCo’s District 63 Seat As Special Election Nears appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

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.”

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Assembly Bill 37 sponsored by Assemblymember Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park) is designed to make it more convenient for people to vote and to increase voter participation in California.

With the bill’s signing, California becomes the eighth state, along with Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and Washington, to have an automatic mail-in ballot system.

In 2000, Oregon became the first state in the U.S. to conduct a presidential election with all mail-in voting. That election year saw a whopping 79% voter turnout, according to an Oregon secretary of state’s office timeline. California similarly looks to increase voter participation for future elections with the vote-by-mail ballot system. New data analysis by the Center for Inclusive Democracy at the USC Price School found that 87.5% of California voters used vote-by-mail to cast their ballots in the 2020 General Election–an increase of more than 20 percentage points from the 2018 General Election.

Not everyone supports vote-by-mail

Although most California voters used vote-by-mail to cast their ballots last year, not everyone has embraced the idea of mail-in voting though, as former President Donald Trump and other high-level Republicans have made claims without any basis or evidence that mail voting is fraudulent.

Some lawmakers have criticized Assembly Bill 37 stating there needs to be added regulations for inactive voters. Inactive voters can be individuals who have not been reachable at their mailing address and who have not cast ballots in recent elections, although in most cases if a voter hasn’t voted in two previous elections in most cases their registration will be cancelled.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill that was passed early in 2021 which included new ID mandates and banned around-the-clock early voting in Texas. Georgia recently passed a law requiring voters to provide their driver’s license number or other form of ID to get or return an absentee ballot. Across the nation, states have taken different approaches to voting legislation.

The results of a Public Policy Institute survey taken last year showed a clear difference in attitudes toward mail in voting based on political party affiliation.

Survey of Likely Voter Support for Mail in Voting in California. See Chart 1.

Statewide Voting Rights Advocate Groups and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), have been very vocal in the fight against anti-voter laws that are being passed in states all over the country. The NAACP even held a massive rally in late August in Detroit, Milwaukee and D.C. calling for new federal and state voting rights’ protections to combat voter suppression. The NAACP looks to protect the “Black vote” as Black voters statewide were crucial in the last presidential election in battleground states solidifying President Biden’s win.

What we learned in the 2020. See Chart 2.

During the 2020 election, 69% of voters nationwide cast their ballots nontraditionally, by mail and/or before Election Day, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report. This is the highest rate of nontraditional voting for a presidential election since questions regarding voting methods have been included in the survey.

As California voters received a mail-in ballot because of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, it was expected that in-person voting would go down, and indeed it did. Only 12.6% of voters cast ballots at polling places or voting centers in 2020. Yet, there were still groups that voted in person in higher numbers than the general population, including Latinos (15.9%), youth (15.1%) and first-time voters (21.2%).

Republicans also voted in-person at a higher rate (17.9%) than either Democrats (9.3%) and No Party Preference voters (12.8%). Another 16.4% of all voters dropped off their ballots at an in-person voting location. The 2020 Presidential Election showed and highlighted the importance of the Black Vote. In Georgia, Black voters flipped a historically red, Republican-based state into a blue state with Black voter registration increasing by 40% in both Fulton and Gwinnett counties, according to the Georgia secretary of state.

Nationally in 2020

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, new rules made it easier to vote during the 2020 Presidential Election especially for African American voters in the Atlanta metropolitan areas where the election was won. As Black voters in states such as Georgia and Wisconsin have historically experienced longer lines during primary elections, California lawmakers not only looked to fight against voter suppression, but they also looked to set a standard that the vote-by-mail system works and should be something considered by other states as well.

According to Newsom

Commenting on AB 37 Newsom stated in a press release, “As states across our country continue to enact undemocratic voter suppression laws, California is increasing voter access, expanding voting options and bolstering elections’ integrity and transparency.”

“Last year we took unprecedented steps to ensure all voters had the opportunity to cast a ballot during the pandemic,” he continued. Adding, “[W]e are making those measures permanent after record-breaking participation in the 2020 presidential election.”

Local voters weigh in

During an interview with the IE Voice and Black Voice News, Vanessa Nava, a full-time student at Riverside Community College explained whether the permanent vote-by-mail process would encourage her to vote in upcoming elections.

“Yes,” Nava responded, “this definitely allows me to have a chance to vote. Being a woman that works two jobs, it was impossible to find the time to head to a polling place. With the vote-by-mail process it made it easier for me to vote in this last election since [before] I never had the time.”

Nava, who works two-part time jobs during the pandemic on top of going to school, went on to say she likely would not have voted in the last election had there not been vote-by-mail ballots.

Nava speaks for many Californians, as most of the population voted by mail in 2020.

As the new legislation goes into effect in January, it’s important to note that ballots in California must go out at least 29 days before the election and voters will still have the option to drop off their ballot or vote in person. For more information on how to register to vote visit: registertovote.ca.gov/.

DREW NATE |Contributed

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