California Republican Rep. Ken Calvert reelected in 41st Congressional District race, CBS News projects
Longtime California Republican Rep. Ken Calvert has defeated Democratic challenger Will Rollins to keep his seat in the Inland Empire's 41st Congressional District, CBS News projects.
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.
Watch: Candidate Ken Calvert (R) and Will Rollins (D) | California's 41th Congressional District
The rematch between Calvert and Rollins was among the closely watched races that helped Republicans maintain their majority in the House of Representatives.
"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 had said he believed change was 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."
While the district's voter registration is made up of nearly equal shares of Democrats and Republicans, 36% to 37% according to the California Secretary of State, the candidates said the race was likely to come down to voters who didn'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 was the issue he most frequently heard 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, touted his record prosecuting cases involving cartels and fentanyl. Rollins said he would work if elected 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 would focus on cutting the cost of living, cracking down on crime and helping secure the border.
Rollins, meanwhile, 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."