Election results: Challenger Will Rollins leads U.S. Rep. Ken Calvert. But many votes remain

Democratic challenger Will Rollins was leading U.S. Rep. Ken Calvert, a Republican congressman for nearly 30 years, as vote counting continued Wednesday. Rollins was up by almost 10,000 votes, a margin of 56% to 44%, but tens of thousands of mail-in and provisional ballots were still to come.

The candidates agreed the final result will be close, with Rollins saying he was "encouraged" by early results and Calvert saying, more definitively, "After all the votes are counted, we will prevail."

New story: Calvert takes 453-vote lead over Rollins in District 41 on Thursday

The race could be key to control of Congress, as results nationally were tighter than expected. Updated vote counts were expected at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

California's post-census redistricting divided the Coachella Valley in half, with the 41st District where Rollins and Calvert ran covering most of the western and central valley. The 25th District covers east valley, Cathedral City and Desert Hot Springs.

The 41st is Riverside County's largest congressional district by population, covering more than 35% of registered voters. It has a near-even split between Republicans and Democrats.

Redistricting also put part of the valley in the same district as Corona, the hometown of Calvert, who has been serving in Congress since 1993.

Rollins is a 38-year-old former federal prosecutor from Manhattan Beach who moved to Palm Springs last year and entered the 41st District race as a Democrat.

Their race was one of the most hotly contested in California this year, with millions being raised from local and national donors as the two parties jockeyed for control of Congress.

More: Aiming to keep hold of Congress, Democrats adding resources to oust GOP Rep. Ken Calvert

On Wednesday morning, Rollins said in a statement that "this is going to be a close race, but we are encouraged by the early results."

“Democracy can be slow, but I am committed to making sure that every vote is counted fairly and that all of our voices are heard. In the meantime, thank you to the election workers in Riverside County and across the country for their selfless work.”

Calvert said the race "was far from over," noting that only 77,554 votes had been counted.

"Our campaign estimates at least 120,000 ballots remain to be counted in the 41st District – including additional in-person votes cast yesterday," Calvert said in a statement. "That means less than 40% of the anticipated votes have been counted so far."

He added that recent election data and vote-by-mail return data show that early resultsfavor Democratic candidates while in-person and late-arriving vote-by-mail ballots, including those handed in on Election Day, favor Republicans.

A hard-fought race

In a speech to supporters Tuesday night, Rollins said his campaign had represented an effort to bring people from across the political spectrum together to restore “compromise, civility and progress.”

“The truth is that we are in a moment of uncertainty because America is divided and there are a lot of people who benefit financially, militarily and politically when Americans turn against one another,” he said. “But this campaign proves that ordinary Americans have the power to reject those who try to divide us.”

Rollins, who is gay, was joined on stage by Mark Takano, the first openly gay man elected to the U.S. House from California in 1992. He exited the stage to rousing applause from a large crowd that included several prominent local Democrats, among them Lisa Middleton and Joel Kinnamon.

With Democrats looking to maintain control of Congress and Republicans hopeful they can take over, the race drew substantial attention. Rollins outraised Calvert by roughly $700,000 in the third quarter and about $150,000 in October through mid-month, according to campaign finance records. Calvert had roughly $1.1 million in his war chest at the end of September, compared to Rollins’ roughly $1 million.

During a meet and greet on Tuesday at the East Valley Republican Women Patriots headquarters, Calvert said he was told early on that Rollins would "go negative from day one."

"That was the only way (Rollins) was going to be able to have any opportunities at all. My Democratic friends told me he was going to come after me. That was pretty much the case and I think we're finding the results didn't have the impact he hoped for because that's been done before."

Given the competitiveness of the struggle for control in D.C., the candidates kept much of their focus national.

Calvert, a major critic of the Biden administration and Democrats’ economic policies, told The Desert Sun he was he’s confident voters were ready for a change in party leadership in Washington.

Calvert said during the campaign that a GOP majority would advance legislation aiming to get high fuel prices under control by promoting more oil and gas production domestically. He is supportive of bringing back some projects paused by the Biden administration, such as one for expanded drilling in Alaska, as well as the canceled Keystone XL Pipeline.

Rollins criticized that strategy, noting some large oil companies have recently reported record profits while indicating they don’t plan to ramp up production. A better approach, he said, would be to focus on passing stronger antitrust laws to deter price gouging.

“I think making sure that we stand against that in the House and keep the House (in Democratic leadership) so that we don't play hold the global economy hostage in order to cut Social Security and Medicare for seniors, that's got to be one of the top priorities for the next Congress,” Rollins said.

While some lawmakers have floated changes, Calvert called Democrats’ argument that Republicans want to cut Medicare and Social Security “election year propaganda.”

“Nobody's interested in cutting Medicare or cutting Social Security,” Calvert said. “That's not going to happen.”

On the campaign trail, Calvert's campaign aimed to portray Rollins as a carpetbagger, noting he grew up in Manhattan Beach and was registered to vote in Los Angeles County until last year.

Rollins, who is gay, has pointed to Calvert's opposition to bills such as the Equality Act in 2021, as well as his votes against certifying the 2020 presidential election results in Pennsylvania and Arizona, as evidence that his views don't align with voters' in the region. The Equality Act would ban discrimination on the basis of sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.

Previous reporting from Desert Sun reporter Tom Coulter was used in this story. 

Paul Albani-Burgio covers breaking news and the City of Palm Springs. Follow him on Twitter @albaniburgiop and via email at paul.albani-burgio@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Election results: Will Rollins leads Ken Calvert — but many votes to come