Latest results from Tuesday’s primary

As of Saturday night, March 9, the Riverside County Registrar of Voters
had counted nearly 346,400 ballots, or about 26% of registered voters.
But the counting continued through the weekend. “An estimated 50,000
Vote-by-Mail and 3,200 Conditional Voter Registration (CVR) ballots
still must be processed,” according to the registrar’s Friday evening
posting. The remaining vote-by-mail ballots are postmarked on or before
election.

The statewide turnout, as of Saturday evening, was 26% with about 1.5
million more ballots to be counted. It tended to be greater in the
smaller counties, such as 59% of Sierra’s 2,000 voters or 58% of
Amador’s 26,000 voters. In Los Angeles County, estimated turnout was
23%, in San Diego County it was 33% and 20% of San Bernardino’s voters
cast ballots.

Presidential races

In the Democratic presidential contest, President Joe Biden easily won
the state’s delegates with 89% of the counted ballots. His Riverside
County result of 89.8% is similar.

In the Republican primary, Donald Trump was the victor with 78.8% of the
Republican votes, but he was stronger in Riverside County with 84.6% of
the ballots. Nikki Haley was second statewide and in the county.

U.S. Senate

In the contest to replace former Sen. Diane Feinstein, the state’s
voters decided a nominee from each party was their preference to two
Democratic nominees.

Representative Adam Schiff was the top Democrat and former Los Angeles
Dodger Steve Garvey, Republican, was second. They will be battling
through the November election.

Statewide, Schiff and Garvey were very close. Only 25,000 votes
separated them out of nearly 5.4 million votes. Schiff had 32.5% and
Garvey earned 32.1%. The two other major Democratic candidates were far
behind. Katie Porter of Orange County had 14.8% and Barbara Lee of
Oakland could only capture 8.6%.

In Riverside County, Garvey leads with 41.5% of votes counted and Schiff
received 28.7%.

Despite the results for the candidates in the November election for a
full six-year Senate term, Garvey may be a senator before Schiff. Garvey
has the lead in the election to fill the final two months of Feinstein’s
term. He has 33.9% of the vote compared to Schiff’s 30.0%.

U.S Congress

In the race for Congressional District 41, the two November candidates
again will be Republican incumbent Ken Calvert and Democrat Will
Rollins. This was the choice in the 2022 election, which Calvert won.
Saturday, Calvert again garnered the majority of votes cast with 52% and
Rollins collected 39.6%. A distant third was Anna Nevenic with 8.4% of
the votes.

In an early press release, Calvert said, “I’m humbled by the incredible
outpouring of support I’ve received in the early returns so far, which I
am confident will only increase as ballots continue to be counted.”

In response to the primary and anticipation of the fall election,
Rollins released the following statement, “In our first campaign in
2022, we gave Ken Calvert the closest midterm election of his 30+ year
career, and we did it by bringing Democrats, Republicans, and
Independents together who know that Calvert’s self-dealing might be good
for his own bottom-line, but it’s bad for us. This November, we’re going
to flip this seat …”

The seat will be close and affect which party has control of the House
of Representatives. Many political pundits and websites have called it
very close.

The Cook Political Report ranked the district as a “toss-up.” The
National Journal included it as one of the 15 House seats most likely to
flip this election cycle. Both The Washington Post and The New York
Times have already published articles about the district’s role in
deciding the next House majority.

Congressman Dr. Raul Ruiz, who represents the 25^(th) Congressional
District, which used to encompass the Hill communities, is winning his
primary with 48.4% of the votes. Ian Weeks, a Republican, is second with
20.4% of the votes.

Assembly District 36

Assembly District 36 encompasses parts of three counties — Imperial,
Riverside and San Bernardino. Overall, Republican Jeff Gonzalez leads
the seven candidates to replace incumbent Eduardo Garcia, who retired.

Gonzalez has captured 34.6% of the total district votes. His challenger
in November will be Democrat Joey Acuna, who had 19.7%. Edgard Garcia,
another Democratic candidate, earned 13.6% of the votes.

In Imperial County, Gonzalez was the leader followed by Acuna. But
fellow Republican Kalin Morse ran second to Gonzalez in San Bernardino
County, where only 760 ballots have been counted.

Gonzalez and fellow Republican Kalin Morse collected 45.4% of the total
district votes cast.

In Riverside County, Gonzalez had 37.7% of the votes and Acuna was
second with 18.8% of more than 31,000 ballots cast.

Assembly District 47

In another repeat from 2022, incumbent Republican Gregg Wallis will face
Democratic challenger Christy Holstege in November for the state’s
Assembly District 47 seat.

However, in this primary as of Saturday, Wallis had 48% and Holstege now
trails after leading since Tuesday with 47%. The difference is about
1,100 votes. The third candidate, Democrat Jamie Swain, got the balance
with 5.1%.

In 2022, it took weeks to determine that Wallis defeated Holstege by 85
votes out of nearly 170,000 ballots cast. As of Saturday, only about
104,600 ballots were counted.

Holstege gained the majority of Riverside County votes with 50.5%
compared to Wallis’ total of 44%. In San Bernardino County, which has
about 25% of the district’s total voters, Wallis had 63.3% of the vote.

HIs vote lead in San Bernardino County is about 6,500 votes. In
Riverside County, Holstege had about 5,400 more votes in the primary.

In an email to the Town Crier, Wallis commented, “We’re looking forward
to all the votes being counted in the coming days. I’m confident that as
we move on to the general election … I’m truly grateful for the trust
the voters of the 47th District have placed in me, and it’s an honor to
serve them in the State Assembly.”

In her press releases, Holstege noted, “Today, as we look over the
initial results from last night, I am deeply grateful and humbled by the
outpouring of support from our community. While we know from experience
not to take any win for granted … In 2022, we came tantalizingly close
to flipping this district, and tonight, we’ve taken another crucial step
forward.”

Riverside Board of Education

In the Trustee Area 4 race (which includes the Hill), Bruce Dennis
easily won reelection with more than 90% of the votes compared to his
challenger Sergei Vinkov.

With a certain victory, Dennis said in an email to the Town Crier,
“Honestly, I’m thrilled to serve another four years and continue to be
part of the great work RCOE is doing. It also allows me to remain on the
Board of Directors of the California School Boards Association, and
continue my advocacy through them.”

Proposition 1

Proposition 1 combines a $6.4 billion bond with changes to the Mental
Health Services Act, initially approved in 2004. These proposals are
intended to provide mental health care and drug or alcohol treatment to
people, including the homeless.

Statewide it appears that Prop 1 may eke out a victory. As of Saturday
evening, 50.3% of ballots voted “Yes.” Its lead is only 29,000 out of
more than 5.4 million votes.

In Riverside County, the opposition had 52.9% of the counted ballots,
18,100 more votes than its supporters.

County supervisors

There were races for two county supervisorial districts — 1 and 3.

In District 3, incumbent Supervisor Chuck Washington won reelection. By
earning a majority of the votes — 53.7% — he will not have to face a
November race for reelection.

“I’m happy for the win in the Primary because of what I perceive it
means: even with 2 challengers, voters recognize my effort, my character
and my competence,” Washington told the Town Crier. “Secondly, I am
freed up to [devote] 100% of my time and energy to serving my District
as their Supervisor … I’m ready to get back to work!”

In District 1, incumbent Kevin Jeffries is retiring at the end of his
term. The two candidates on the November ballot will be Richard Roth, a
former state senator, and Jose Medina, a former Assembly member.
However, Medina’s lead over the third-place candidate, Debbie Walsh, is
only 890 votes out of a total of 47,700 cast.