2024 could be the year of rematches in the Coachella Valley’s biggest legislative races.
Longtime U.S. Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona, is again running against Democrat Will Rollins in the state’s March primary that concluded Tuesday, and early returns suggest the two could be in for another tight race come November.
Initial returns released Tuesday night showed Calvert in the lead with 33,600 voters, or 46.2% of the vote, while Rollins was in second place with 44.8%, or 32,557 votes out of over 72,000 cast.
The only other candidate in the primary is Democrat Anna Nevenic, who was in a distant third place, gaining 6,559 votes, or about 9% of the vote. She ran as a no party preference candidate for the seat in 2022 and placed a distant fifth in the primary, garnering fewer than 2,000 votes.
Only the top two vote-getters advance to the Nov. 5 general election.
The initial returns released by Riverside County’s registrar of voters reflect vote-by-mail ballots and unscanned vote center ballots that were received prior to Election Day. Additional updates are expected throughout Tuesday night.
If Calvert and Rollins advance to the general election, they’re poised for a high-profile race that’s already drawn national attention for its potential impacts on which party will control a majority in Congress next year.
Calvert has been in Congress since since 1993, but won in 2022 in a new district that includes parts of the Coachella Valley.
Rollins, a former federal prosecutor who moved to Palm Springs a couple years ago, is poised to again give Calvert a competitive race, after gaining support as a top candidate on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s “Red to Blue” program for competitive districts nationwide.
The rematch comes after Rollins lost by roughly 11,000 votes against Calvert in the 2022 general election. While initial returns on Election Night gave Rollins an early lead, Calvert ultimately won by about 4.5%, with over 236,000 votes cast, and declared victory nearly a week after Election Night.
Voter guide: Your Guide to the 2024 Elections
While Calvert has been in Congress since 1993, the current term marks his first representing parts of the Coachella Valley. After long representing other pockets of western Riverside County, Calvert ran for a new congressional district, the 41st, in 2022 following the state’s redistricting process.
The 41st Congressional District includes Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, La Quinta, Indian Wells and Palm Desert, and it stretches west from the valley to Corona, Menifee and elsewhere in western Riverside County.
Its nearly even split between registered Republicans and Democrats — along with roughly 19% of the electorate with no party preference — has placed it on many national lists of congressional races to watch.
During the campaign, Calvert, who chairs the defense appropriations subcommittee in the House, has blasted Rollins for being aligned with Democratic economic policies that Calvert argues have led to record inflation in recent years. His campaign website also lists several Riverside County projects that have gained millions of dollars in federal funding with Calvert’s backing during his tenure in Congress.
Rollins, on his campaign website, says he backs tax breaks for middle-class families and small businesses “by reforming our tax structure to ensure that the wealthiest individuals and large corporations pay their fair share of taxes.” He also calls for an end to price-gouging by “massive corporate monopolies” and for a stronger antitrust division in the Department of Justice.
Nevenic, in her candidate responses on Ballotpedia, has called for expanding vocational and technical training in high schools to support a skilled workforce and reducing federal red tape to bolster the national economy.
In addition to her run for the same congressional seat in 2022, Nevenic has run for office several other times over the past decade: twice for state senate, plus once each for Palm Springs City Council and for the Palm Springs Unified school board.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: California election results: Ken Calvert, Will Rollins set for rematch
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