California Republican Rep. Ken Calvert faces Democrat Will Rollins in 41st Congressional District rematch
The Inland Empire is at the center of one of the nation's most closely watched U.S. House races as longtime Republican Rep. Ken Calvert faces off against Democratic challenger Will Rollins for the 41st Congressional District.
The district encompasses much of western Riverside County, an area that for the last three decades has been represented by Calvert, who has fended off multiple challenges from the left over the years, including from Rollins in 2022.
The rematch between Calvert and Rollins could help flip the Republican majority in the House of Representatives. Redistricting shifted the electorate in the Inland Empire for the 41st Congressional District, which stretches from Corona to Elsinore and all the way to the Coachella Valley.
"The Inland Empire is the stepchild of Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, so, we have to fight for those resources to come back to this region," Calvert said. "That just doesn't happen with a brand new face, it takes a long time to get the seniority that I have. I'm the second-most senior appropriator in the United States government."
Rollins said he believes change is needed in the district, calling Calvert "complacent."
"He feels entitled to his position. He's been there since I was eight years old," Rollins said. "But, a lot of folks are just fed up with a dude who has been in the House of Representatives and made up to $20 million by using our tax dollars to line his own pockets through earmarks, and the rest of us are just struggling to make the rent at the end of each month."
With the district's voter registration is made up of nearly identical numbers of Democrats and Republicans, 36% to 37% according to the California Secretary of State, the candidates say the race will likely come down to those who don't side with one of the two major parties.
"I think most independents are gonna vote for common sense," Calvert said. "People want common sense in government. They want things to cost less, they want things to work better and they know inherently that more regulations and more government fiats don't necessarily help."
Rollins said the high cost of housing is the issue he most frequently hears about while campaigning.
"In every corner of this district, the number one issue I hear about, whether it's the Coachella Valley or the Inland Empire," Rollins said. "For people who are millennials, Gen Z, they wanna move out of their parent's house before they're 40, right?"
Rollins, a former U.S. assistant district attorney, has touted his record prosecuting cases involving cartels and fentanyl. If elected to Congress, Rollins said he would work to protect women's reproductive rights, to lower the cost of prescriptions and to fight government corruption.
A former small business owner, Calvert told CBS News Los Angeles that he's brought more taxpayer money back to California than any other member of Congress, and noted that he would focus on cutting the cost of living, cracking down on crime and helping secure the border.
"We need to seal the border, [because] we have criminals," he said.
Rollins, meanwhile, has said he would join others in his party in working for comprehensive immigration reform.
"We also have kids who are brought to the United States as toddlers by their parents, they had no control over it," he said. "We have people who have served in the military who got deported afterward, all those folks deserve some pathway to citizenship. It's gonna grow our economy and live up to our values as Americans."