Ken Calvert bests Will Rollins in Riverside County district

Rep. Ken Calvert, the longest-serving Republican member of California’s congressional delegation, gained reelection in Riverside County regardless of being drawn right into a much less favorable district in the course of the decennial reconfiguring of congressional maps.

Calvert beat Democrat Will Rollins, a former federal prosecutor, in a district that grew to become way more aggressive this 12 months, partly due to the inclusion of one of many nation’s largest concentrations of LGBTQ voters. The Related Press known as the race Monday, although official outcomes will take longer.

“This election demonstrated that Riverside County voters are extra enthusiastic about individuals critical about fixing our challenges, than private politics,” Calvert mentioned in a written assertion through which he known as Rollins an “extremist liberal.” “It’s clear that this district, like our nation, is narrowly divided on a partisan foundation. I’m pleased with my file of delivering outcomes for Riverside County by working in a bipartisan method all through my profession.”

Calvert, 69, was first elected to Congress in a 1992 contest determined by fewer than 600 votes. Born and raised in Corona, the place he nonetheless lives, he has coasted to reelection for a lot of the previous three many years.

However Riverside County had been skewing much less Republican, partly due to an inflow of L.A. residents searching for extra inexpensive housing. Redistricting, which happens each 10 years after the U.S. Census, made Calvert’s congressional district way more aggressive this 12 months; Democrats have a 0.6-percentage-point registration benefit over Republicans.

Solidly GOP areas corresponding to Temecula and Murrieta have been excised from the district, and extra liberal areas have been added — together with Palm Springs, the primary metropolis within the nation to elect an all-LGBTQ metropolis council.

In Calvert’s first reelection marketing campaign, in 1994, an ally of his outed Calvert’s challenger, Mark Takano. The freshman congressman’s marketing campaign despatched voters sizzling pink and lavender mailers that claimed Takano had a “secret agenda” and requested whether or not the Democrat can be a “Congressman for Riverside … or San Francisco?”

(Takano was elected to Congress in 2012 and has represented western Riverside County since then. By all accounts, he and Calvert have a civil relationship and have collaborated on tasks that profit their districts.)

There was some schadenfreude amongst Rollins supporters concerning the prospect of him defeating a politician who had lengthy opposed homosexual rights. Rollins is homosexual and lives together with his long-time associate in Palm Springs.

Calvert voted for the 1996 Protection of Marriage Act, which allowed states to refuse to acknowledge same-sex marriages, and in 2010 he voted in opposition to the repeal of the army’s “don’t ask, don’t inform” coverage.

Calvert mentioned his views have modified and that his previous positions aligned with these of most Republicans and Democrats on the time. He broke together with his occasion in August by voting for the Respect for Marriage Act, which might provide federal safety for same-sex and interracial marriage.

Although Rollins highlighted social points within the marketing campaign, the problem he centered on extra was threats to democracy and the Jan. 6 rebellion in Washington, as lawmakers met to certify the 2020 presidential election.

Rollins, 38, helped prosecute individuals who breached the U.S. Capitol that day. Calvert voted in opposition to certifying the electoral faculty votes from Arizona and Pennsylvania, saying he believed there have been voting irregularities within the two states though he believes Joe Biden legitimately gained the election.

Calvert has deep roots within the district. Supporters say regardless of his many years within the nation’s capital, Calvert stays a well-known face in the neighborhood, exhibiting up at Rotary and Chamber of Commerce conferences when he’s dwelling.

Extra importantly, they are saying, Calvert has been a robust advocate for the district, securing federal funds for transportation and infrastructure tasks in addition to stopping the closure of two space army bases.