Editor’s Note: The 2024 Presidential Election will be Tuesday, November 5. Besides the races for President and the U.S. Senate, to succeed Diane Feinstein, there are many local races which will determine who represents the Hill in the State Assembly and the U.S. Congress.

The Town Crier will be writing about the races for the U.S. Congressional District 41 and California Assembly Districts 36 and 47, and the Idyllwild Water District.

The two candidates seeking California’s District 41 Congressional seat are incumbent Republican Ken Calvert and Democratic challenger Will Rollins.

Will Rollins, 39, a Democrat of Palm Springs, is making his second challenge against Republican incumbent Ken Calvert for the 41^(st) District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Rollins is a former federal prosecutor. After Sept. 11, he wanted to combat terrorism. Rather than join the military, he graduated from Dartmouth University and earned his law degree from Columbia University.

“I’ve worked in law enforcement my entire career, protecting communities from terror,” he said. “Whether it’s murder, cartels, terrorism or public corruption, I’ve wanted to stop those threats to our neighborhoods.”

Consequently, his biggest motivation for seeking this Congressional seat is the threats to democracy, including the numerous hints of overturning the election.

“There are too many efforts to suppress voter turnout,” he described. “One, for example, is the limitation in some places from offering water to people standing inline waiting to vote. We should be protecting the right for different voices to be heard in an election.”

While he strongly favors protection of free speech, Rollins also acknowledges the problems of social media distributing misleading and false information.

Although the 1st Amendment guarantees “free speech,” newspapers and publications have a responsibility to not liable individuals with the information that they distribute. But Rollins notes, that social media platforms are not held to this standard, and he wants to find a solution to this difference.

If news entities cannot broadcast or print libelous information, social media platforms should have the same restrictions, he argues.

As many candidates have stated, there is no “simple solution” to fixing the national debt, Rollins opined.

“This requires trade-offs that nobody will be happy with,” he expressed. “It requires compromise.”

It starts with comparing the ability of firefighters and nurses to pay more taxes compared to billionaires. He also dismissed the idea of raising the Social Security retirement age as a means to extend the fund. “The conversation starts with making the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share.”

Rollins does favor expanding Medicare to cover dental and vision expenses. He argues that coverage of teeth cleaning has long term benefits. Tooth and gum problems can evolve into long term health issues, whose repair have much greater costs imposed on Medicare.

Part of his health care package and issues is protection of a woman’s right to choose an abortion. He noted two recent cases of women dying from pregnancy problems and denied an abortion that might have averted the death.

“One of my first votes will be to restore Roe v. Wade as a Federal law,” he avowed.

While he favors California’s plans to reduce and eliminate gasoline powered vehicles with zero emission autos, he is also aware of their cost. Most ZEVs are purchased by upper income couples.

“We have to make these cars more affordable,” he affirmed. “As people understand the value of ZEVs, and more competition occurs, this will drive the costs down.”

He also recognizes that as this market grows, there will be a concomitant need for more charging stations similar in number to today’s gas stations. But he also noted that new technology has extended the range of EVs and the time between charges.

Rollins recognizes the importance of immigration limits and border protection. His career included cases involving counterterrorism and better border security is needed to combat these problems. He stressed that this means use of modern technology such as anti-tunnel equipment.

Rollins is a firm believer in a strong border. He lamented the House and Senate Republican’s agreement to table a bipartisan compromise border bill at the urging of candidate Donald Trump.

He also favors Proposition 36 on November’s ballot. He stressed that his law career was as a prosecutor. He does not support actions to defund police.

After the assassination attempt on former President Trump, Rollins wrote an opinion piece for the Press Enterprise, in which he said, “That is why the attack on former President Trump was an attack on all of us. . . Congress needs to take immediate steps to increase security for our leaders, enact common sense gun safety reforms, and fix a broken online ecosystem that maximizes profits by amplifying divisive, violent, and conspiratorial content.”

Rollins lost the 2022 election to Calvert by 5% of the votes cast. He attributed the loss to the late start of his campaign. “When I left my job, there were only six months to introduce myself to the electorate. This time I started in May 2023 and many more people know who I am,” he declared. “I’m also spending more time in the western part of the district, seeing voters in Corona, Menifee and Lake Elsinore.”

He also argues that the greater turnout for the Presidential Election will favor him. Although there are about 3,400 more registered Republicans in the District than Democrats, he noted that the gap was greater in 2022 and he still came with 5% of Calvert’s total.

“The turnout for Democrats and Republicans will be about equal, but we’ll continue to win independents and moderates,” he asserted.

The few polls of voter’s likelihood have been close and mixed. Both candidates have had leads in different polls. The Cook Political Report labels the race as a toss-up slightly favoring Calvert. A Sept. 24 poll conducted by California Elections & Policy Poll, a group of three local universities, resulted in a Calvert advantage of .4% of likely voters. There were 4.8% of voters who remained undecided, and the margin of error was 4.2%.

Through June 30, Rollins had raised about $5.5 million for his campaign, and he had slightly more than $970,000 in cash available.

But the cost of this race may collectively exceed $20 million, he noted with regret. This is excessive, he opined and stated his support to reverse “Citizens v. United” to achieve campaign finance reform.

As the interview concluded, Rollins restated his challenge to debate Calvert. “He still refuses to debate. He doesn’t have to answer to constituents.”