Calvert retains Congressional seat

Editor’s note: A separate story discusses the Assembly District races and the Idyllwild Water District Board election.

The polls have been closed for two weeks. Most final results are known, but about 46,900 ballots remain to be counted in Riverside County as of 6 pm, Saturday, Nov.16. About 1,100 ballots were counted since Friday.

As of 6 p.m., Saturday, the Riverside County Registrar of Voters reported that 913,053 ballots had been counted, which represents 66.5% of registered voters in the County.

Of the remaining ballots, 25% are mail-in and the other 34,900 ballots are “conditional voter registration” ballots and will require more time to verify any questions about the voter.

If all the uncounted ballots are accepted, the turnout for the 2024 Presidential Election will be 70%. For the last Presidential election in 2020, the turnout in Riverside County was 81.8 %.

Statewide the turnout is 64.9% based solely on the number of ballots counted. There are still about 1.5 million uncounted ballots throughout California. The projected total statewide turnout for this election would be 67.8%. For the 2020 election, 80.7% of California’s registered voters cast a ballot.

Congressional

Incumbent Republican Ken Calvert has defeated Democratic challenger Will Rollins for a second time. As of Saturday, Calvert had a 10,500 vote lead over Rollins for California’s 41^(st) Congressional seat. His lead has been growing since the polls closed.

Calvert has 51.5 % of the vote. This may be his closest election since his first victory in 1992, when he won with 47% of the vote and in 2008, when he had only 52% of the ballots. In 2022, he won with 52.4% of the vote. About 352,500 votes have been counted compared to a total of 235,000 votes cast in 2022.

The Associated Press called the race for Calvert on Wednesday, Nov. 13. But two days earlier, Decision Desk HQ projected Calvert as the winner.

“I’m honored that Riverside County voters have once again placed their trust in me to continue delivering results for them in Washington,” said Calvert in his press release. “This is a hard-fought victory that shows voters want someone who will put results over partisan politics. . . Serving Riverside County has been an honor of a lifetime. As a lifelong resident of this community, I will keep fighting every day for this region, our state, and our country.”

Rollins waited until the AP decision was announced before he conceded on Wednesday.

“I will be reaching out to Congressman Calvert to offer my congratulations on his reelection to represent California’s 41st District,” he said in his press release. “I’m going to be honest: losing sucks. Especially after campaigning back-to-back for nearly three years. But I will never regret running. . . “

Former Hill Congressman Dr. Raul Ruiz is winning re-election to his House seat.

Summary

Since election night, Nov. 5, there have been no changes in the Presidential and U.S. Senate races.

These six propositions have passed: Propositions 2 and 4, bond measures for schools and environmental projects, Prop 3, the constitutional right to marriage, Prop 34, restricts spending of prescription revenues, Prop 35, permanent funding for medi-cal, and Prop 36, increased sentencing for certain drug and theft crimes, have received more “Yes” than “No.”

These four failed to achieve majority support: Prop 5, bonds for affordable housing and infrastructure, Prop 6, eliminates forcing inmates to work, Prop 32, raises minimum wage, and Prop 33, local government residential rent control. Of these four, the closest race was for Prop 32, minimum wage.