In a message posted to his social media accounts on Monday, longtime Republican Rep. Ken Calvert thanked Riverside County voters for once again putting “their trust” in him to “continue delivering results for them in Washington.”
Calvert, R-Corona, has been in office since 1993 in California’s 44th, 42nd, 43rd, and now 41st Congressional District. He said that he won another “hard-fought victory” to keep his seat. After Decision Desk HQ called the race at 5:47 p.m. Monday, he made his speech.
What his opponent thinks, though, is that the announcement of victory came way too soon.
A 40-year-old Democrat named Will Rollins, who used to be a counter terrorism prosecutor, wrote on Monday to people who follow him on social media that his campaign thinks the race is “too close to call.”
An announcement made Monday night says, “Our campaign is keeping a very close eye on the election results and has people at the Registrar of Voters every single day.”
There could still be at least 80,000 votes to count in California’s 41st Congressional District tomorrow, when more mail arrives at the Registrar’s office. This is because of vote-by-mail ballots and conditional ballots that need to be counted.
“The race is too close to call,” we said. “We will keep an eye on the results while we wait for at least 20% of the voters to have their say.”
Around 7,500 more votes had been cast by Monday night, when the Associated Press did their last count. This meant that Calvert had a slight lead in the race.
A big part of Riverside County is in this district. It includes parts of the county’s name city as well as Corona, Lake Elsinore, Norco, Eastvale, and other places.
Parts of the Coachella Valley, including Palm Springs, which has a lot of LGBTQ+ people, were added to the usually safe Republican area.
In 2022, Rollins, a man from Palm Springs who is openly gay, made the same challenge to Calvert. By about 9,000 votes, he lost that seat.
The next updated count of votes should come out on Tuesday night.