Dean of California GOP faces an exciting rematch

Even in an era when violent crime is declining across the country, Republicans continue to bash Democrats on this issue. But a former federal prosecutor campaigning in a purple Southern California neighborhood is striking back.

Democrat Will Rollins, who is making his second run against Republican Rep. Ken Calvert in California’s 41st District, is leaning heavily on his background as an assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting drug dealers, sex offenders, gang members and a Jan. 6 defendant. He has portrayed Calvert as an entrenched conservative with questionable ethics who is politically out of step with an increasingly diverse district.

Calvert, the longest-serving Republican in the California delegation, is an appropriator and has emphasized his ability to secure more than a billion in federal funds for projects in the district. He is currently chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, a high-profile replacement. His campaign rejects allegations of corruption, saying the claims were investigated and dismissed years ago, and accusing Rollins of inflating his law enforcement credentials to win votes.

The race is one of the key campaigns in California that could determine which party controls the House. A poll released last week by researchers from the University of Southern California, California State University Long Beach and Cal Poly Pomona found the contest was literally a dead heat, with each candidate receiving support from 46 percent of likely voters.

“This is one of the most exciting races in the state and in the country,” said lead researcher Christian Grose, a political scientist at USC.

District boundaries

In one district, former President Donald Trump would have won by 1 percentage point in 2020 if the current boundaries had been in place. The poll is a warning sign for Calvert, Grose said.

“It’s a district that is somewhat Republican,” Grose said. A GOP politician as famous as Calvert “should probably be three or four points ahead, but he’s not.” The race is rated Tilt Republican by Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales.

The 41st District includes most of Riverside County, including the fast-growing suburbs of Corona and Lake Elsinore. Democrats say young families locked out of expensive housing markets in Los Angeles and Orange County are moving to the district and reforming politics.

But Republicans say the party’s redistricting was the biggest driving force behind shifting party politics, leaving Republican communities for Palm Springs, a progressive enclave with one of the country’s largest LGBTQ+ populations. In 2022, the first election under the new map, Calvert won by about 11,000 votes — a fairly narrow margin for a politician who had grown accustomed to polling in double digits for most of his nearly 32-year career in Congress.

In the final, crucial sprint to Election Day, Rollins is leaning into his message as a crime-fighting Democrat. “It resonates across party lines,” he said in an interview.

“Most of us don’t want to defund the FBI because we want bank robberies and cartels to be investigated. “Most of us believe in our jury system, and it’s dangerous to have people who undermine that,” Rollins added. “Moderate Republicans who used to be part of a law-and-order party are well aware that there are members of Congress who, for political reasons, are willing to give Donald Trump a get-out-of-jail-free card .”

Rollins is gay and has criticized Calvert’s past opposition to LGBTQ+ civil rights, but the issue hasn’t attracted as much attention this year as it did when Calvert and Rollins first met in 2022.

Instead, Rollins is focusing on his record in helping prosecute a drug trafficker with ties to the Sinaloa crime cartel, a Los Angeles doctor who fraudulently sold painkillers and a UCLA adjunct professor involved in illegally exporting semiconductor chips to China, among other things. .

It’s a strategy he said he hopes will win over independents and even some Republicans who have grown tired of Trump’s rhetoric. Democrats, Rollins said, “should be at fault when it comes to public safety, especially when the other side of the aisle demonizes federal law enforcement officers.”

Rollins said he sees echoes of his campaign in the battle between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. “Having a prosecutor at the top of the list helps get a former federal prosecutor in the mood because the prosecutor versus criminal theme is very closely aligned with our theme,” Rollins said.

Law and order

Calvert, who has endorsed Trump, has tried to turn the tables on Rollins, portraying him as an excessive liberal in step with Harris and California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom. An early Calvert campaign ad calls Rollins “pro-criminal.”

“This race is a choice between someone who has consistently worked across party lines to get big things done for Riverside County, and an LA liberal who is going to double down on all the failed policies of Gavin Newsom and Kamala Harris,” Calvert said. an email. “There is no one else who has the experience, the relationships or the proven track record that I have for this district.”

Rollins is touting his endorsement with the Palm Springs Police Officers Association, which endorsed Calvert two years ago. “Will was a federal prosecutor and he understands the dynamics of our work and how difficult it is,” said Sgt. Michael Torres said in an interview. Torres, along with several colleagues, appears in a new ad supporting Rollins.

However, Calvert has been endorsed by more than half a dozen local and national law enforcement groups.

Additionally, Calvert’s campaign claims Rollins exaggerated his criminal justice experience and misled voters about Calvert’s ethics.

“Will Rollins has lied about his profession as a counterterrorism lawyer, about prosecuting the Sinaloa Cartel, and about his extreme record as a prosecutor, so it’s hardly a surprise that he’s also lying about Ken Calvert,” says Calvin Moore, a spokesman for the Calvert. campaign. “The Ethics Commission long ago rejected all of Rollins’ lies and it is a shame that Rollins has chosen to stoop to this level of gutter politics to support his ridiculous campaign. But considering that Rollins’ agenda would raise gas prices, undermine Prop 13 protections, release criminals, and open our borders, it’s easy to see why he’d want to talk about anything other than what he actually says. Congress would do.

In August, the group End Citizens United filed an ethics complaint against Calvert for failing to disclose ownership of certain properties, alleging that some of his earmarks could increase the value of those properties. He faced similar questions in the past, but in 2007 the House Ethics Committee cleared Calvert of any wrongdoing.

The district has deep partisan political divisions, so it’s no surprise that each campaign has turned to voters from the other party for an edge. Registered Republicans made up 36.99 percent of the district’s registered voters, while Democrats made up 36.28 percent of the electorate, according to statistics compiled last month by California’s secretary of state.

“I can deliver results for Riverside County in Congress because of my experience, determination and willingness to work in a bipartisan manner to tackle even the toughest issues,” Calvert posted on X last month.

One of Rollins’ ads features the story of his grandparents, conservative California Republicans who owned a business and revered former California governor and President Ronald Reagan.

“I think part of my philosophy for getting a purple seat is not to demonize all Republican voters because they are not monolithic,” Rollins said. “A lot of them have big problems with Ken Calvert. They have big problems with Donald Trump. They also have huge problems with the Democratic Party, which I understand.”

But Republicans say Rollins’ move to the center is a political ploy.

“Will Rollins is soft on crime and tough on deceit,” said Ben Petersen, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. He called Rollins “a Hollywood-style con man who will say or do anything to cover up his extremely liberal record.”