Primary Election 2026 – County Board Looks to Stay Intact

Bianco Bid for Governor Far Behind

The roster of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors appears likely to remain as is, as all three Supes up for reelection are heading toward victories with a majority of the vote. District 2 Supervisor Karen Spiegel and District 4 Supervisor Manuel Perez are leading their respective races with margins significantly above the required 50% needed to avoid a run-off in November.

In the Fifth District, Supervisor Yxstian Gutierrez easily won a second term in the primary, with no listed opponent, though there were nearly 500 votes cast for write-in candidates.

While performing as one of the top 2 candidates in Riverside County, Sheriff Chad Bianco trails far behind statewide to qualify for the November run-off in his bid to be the next Governor of California. Fellow Republican Steve Hilton and Democrats Javier Beccera and Tom Steyer have significant statewide leads over Bianco.

In the newly drawn congressional maps, it appears the most hotly contested race, CA Congressional District 40, which is engaging two incumbent Republicans may well continue into November.

The incumbent, Rep. Young Kim of Anaheim, is currently in second, behind the longest-serving CA Republican in Congress, Ken Calvert of Corona, who represents the current 41^st district.

The bulk of the district’s metropolitan space is in Orange County. However, the eastern boundary juts into Riverside County, encompassing the Temescal Valley, most of Lake Elsinore, Canyon Lake and Menifee. 

Calvert’s prior stomping ground of northwest Riverside County, including Corona, Eastvale and Norco, was lumped into the 35th Congressional District, where Rep. Norma Torres, D-Ontario, was holding a formidable lead over Republican businessman Mike Cargile.

 Most of the 35th District is in San Bernardino County.

The local race with the highest number of candidates — and no incumbent — is in the newly established 48th Congressional District, which encompasses the Anza and Hemet valleys, the Southwest cities and some of the
mountain communities. There were 12 people listed on the ballot, only one of whom was an independent.

Returns show Republican Jim Desmond leading the field with 42%, as of Thursday at 8am followed distantly by Democrat Marni von Wilpert at 19.5%. Eight other Democrats cumulatively accounted for approximately 30% of the vote thus far.

The 39th Congressional District was adjusted only a little by California Proposition 50 and continues to include Riverside, Moreno Valley, Perris, some of the outlying communities just west of Perris, as well as Lake
Elsinore, and the freeway communities north of Moreno Valley.

Democrat Rep. Mark Takano, the incumbent, was solidly in the lead against challenger and former Lake Elsinore Mayor Steve Manos.

The districts were reshaped, and in most cases renumbered, for the election based on Prop 50, approved by a majority of voters in the November 2025 special election. It amended the state constitution to permit the
Legislature to redefine congressional districts’ boundaries, even though the independent California Citizens Redistricting Commission had already established them after the 2020 Census.

California’s 52 congressional districts were modified. In Riverside County, all of the districts changed shape.

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Primary Election 2026 Results

Votes tallies as of Thursday, 8 am.