By JP Crumrine
Correspondent
Below are the results of the races in the Riverside County June primary. The top two vote getters for each U.S. and state elected position will be the candidates on the November Election ballot. Regardless of party, the two candidates with the most votes will face off during the fall campaign.
For Riverside County elected positions, if a candidate receives more than 50% of the votes cast, they are declared the winner and will not have to battle in November.
As of early Wednesday morning, with 100% of county precincts reporting, 191,996 ballots had been counted. That is 14.7% of the 1.3 million registered voters in the county.
The Registrar of Voters site says 155,000 vote-by-mail ballots and 2,000 provisional ballots have not yet been counted.
U.S. Representative District 41
Running in a slightly modified district, Republican Congressman Ken Calvert was the leading candidate with 43.6% of the votes. His November challenger will be Democrat Will Rollins, a former federal prosecutor. Rollins and his fellow Democrat Shrina Kurani earned slightly more than 50% of the vote, which may indicate a close race in November between Calvert and Rollins.
After early results were posted, Calvert issued a press release Wednesday morning. In it, he said, “It’s truly an honor to receive the most votes once again in this election. The election results send a clear message that voters in the 41st Congressional District want to move our country in a different direction from the constant state of crisis and inflation we have found ourselves under President Biden.”
State Senate District 32
With only two candidates, both Assemblyman Kelly Seyarto (R) and Brian Nash (D) will be on the November ballot. But Seyarto did receive 58% of the votes.
State Assembly District 47
Four candidates were in this race. Christy Holstege, Democrat from Palm Springs, garnered 53.4% of the vote followed by Republican Greg Wallis, who had 27% of the votes.
State Assembly District 36
Assembly District 36 includes Garner Valley, Anza and Aguanga. Eduardo Garcia, a Democrat, and Ian Weeks, a Republican, received 90% of the total vote and will compete in November.
District Attorney
In a three way race, incumbent Michael Hestrin was re-elected as Riverside County District Attorney. He garnered 53% of the total vote, outpolling his two rivals, Judge Burke Strunsky and Lara Gressley, who together had only 46% of the ballots.
Sheriff
Similarl,y incumbent Sheriff Chad Bianco was re-elected with 58% of the voter over his challenger Michael Lujan.
Auditor Controller
In a close race for the county’s Auditor-Controller, only 2,630 votes separate incumbent Paul Angulo from challenger Ben Benoit. The third candidate, Marshall Campbell, received 16% of the votes, consequently neither Angulo nor Benoit can gain the election now. Both will be on the November ballot.
Assessor-County Clerk and Treasurer Tax Collector
In two separate races, the incumbent was not challenged. So Peter Aldana, the Assessor-County Clerk, and Matthew Jennings, Treasurer-Tax Collector, were elected and will not have to face any November challenge.
County Superintendent of Schools
Incumbent Edwin Gomez was unopposed.
County Supervisors
Two incumbent supervisors, Karen Speigel (2nd District) and Manual Perez (4th District, which now includes the Hill communities), were unchallenged and, therefore, re-elected.
Current Board of Supervisors Chair Jeff Hewitt of the 5th District had three opponents. As of Wednesday morning, he trails Moreno Valley Mayor Yxstian Gutierrez by 99 votes. So they will be campaigning in the fall.
Judges
There were four Superior Court judgeships on the ballot.
Office #4
Deputy District Attorney Natalie Lough, with 48% of the vote counted, will face Senior Deputy District Attorney Amy Barajas in November.
Office #11
Superior Court Commissioner Laura Garcia has 50.1% of the counted vote and leads her opponent Jay Kiel, a deputy district attorney, by only 328 votes.
Office #26 and 28
In these two races, the top vote getter has more than 50% of votes cast. In Office 26, Jason Stone has 62% and for Office 28, Kristi Kirk has 53.8%
