RIVERSIDE (CNS) – Democrat Will Rollins has conceded to Republican Ken Calvert in the race for the 41st Congressional District, and called his opponent to congratulate him.
Rollins said in a statement released Monday on social media that, “we are in a moment of uncertainty, because America is divided. And there are a lot of people out there who benefit — financially, militarily, politically — when Americans turn against one another.”
Rollins was trailing Calvert by 10,364 votes with 98% of precincts reporting in the district as of Monday. Calvert had 52% of the vote to 48% for Rollins.
Rollins said in a Twitter post he called Calvert to offer his congratulations.
“I had hoped for a different result, but I respect our democratic system and am sure that our fine election workers did their jobs honestly and responsibly, and I accept the count. Thank you to the hundreds of thousands of you who voted,” Rollins said.
Rollins led by more than 10,000 votes when results were released on election night. But Calvert slowly chipped away at Rollins’ lead and declared victory on Nov. 15.
“This election demonstrated that Riverside County voters are more interested in people serious about solving our challenges, than personal politics. In the end, it’s clear that voters sent a strong message rejecting the gutter politics of lies and personal attacks from an out-of-town extremist liberal,” Calvert said.
Calvert has represented parts of Riverside County in Congress since 1993, previously for the 44th, 43rd and 42nd districts before it was reconfigured for the 2022 election.
The 41st District includes several Coachella Valley cities — Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, La Quinta, Palm Desert and Indian Wells — along with Corona, Menifee and Norco in western Riverside County.
The district is nearly split evenly between registered Democrats and Republicans, and non-party voters make up about 20% of the eligible voters.
