California Congressional District 41 election: Calvert vs. Rollins voter guide

The battleground race in California’s 41st Congressional District is a rematch between Republican Rep. Ken Calvert and Democrat Will Rollins, a former federal prosecutor.

For decades, Calvert, the longest-serving GOP member of California’s congressional delegation, has largely coasted to reelection in what was once a safely conservative district. But in 2022, Rollins ran a competitive campaign in the newly redrawn district, losing by less than 5% of the vote.

Who are the candidates?

Calvert, 71, is a Corona native who has held office since 1993. Supporters laud him for securing funding for local transportation and infrastructure projects and the region’s military facilities.

The Republican is chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Pentagon budget. He wrote legislation that created the E-Verify system, which employers can use to check the immigration status of new hires.

Rollins, 39, grew up in Manhattan Beach. He said the 9/11 terrorist attacks sparked his interest in public service. Rollins considered joining the military but decided not to because he feared being outed or discharged as a closeted gay man under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy at the time. He instead focused on national security at the U.S. Justice Department, including working on Jan. 6 insurrection cases.

Where is the district?

The Riverside County district stretches from the sprawling city of Corona to the resorts and golf courses of the Coachella Valley. Recent redistricting excised GOP havens such as Temecula and Murrieta and added liberal Palm Springs, home to one of the nation’s largest concentrations of LGBTQ+ voters.

Abortion and reproductive care

Calvert said that he does not support a national ban on abortion and that the matter should be left to the states. He has previously said he believes people have the right to abortion in cases of rape, incest or when their health is jeopardized.

In 2021, he was among the GOP House members who signed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to overturn Roe vs. Wade.

Calvert also voted against the Right to Contraception Act that would have codified the right to access birth control. He said he does “not support restrictions on IVF.”

Rollins supports writing abortion rights previously guaranteed by Roe into federal law, as well as protecting the right to in vitro fertilization and access to birth control.

Immigration

Calvert said he wants to make the E-Verify program mandatory for employers nationwide. He supports restoring “Remain in Mexico” (the controversial Trump-era policy that made asylum seekers wait across the border while the U.S. considered their cases), and hiring more Border Patrol agents.

The Republican also said he wants to “finish the wall,” referring to the U.S.-Mexico border barricade that former President Trump promised in 2016 to build at Mexico’s expense. He has supported legislation to deny birthright citizenship to children born in the U.S. to parents who are in the country illegally.

Rollins said he wants to create a “pathway to citizenship for qualified immigrants,” and supports having more Border Patrol agents in the field and expanding detection equipment at ports of entry.

He said he would “work to protect DACA recipients” — qualified young people who were brought to the U.S. as children.

Guns

Calvert voted against an assault weapons ban and against enhanced background checks for gun purchases.

Rollins supports universal background checks, the passage of “red flag” laws “to keep guns away from domestic abusers or those who threaten to commit mass shootings,” and banning “weapons of war that have no place on our streets.”

LGBTQ+ rights

Calvert voted for the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which allowed states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages, and in 2010 voted against the repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. But he has said his views, like those of many Americans, have changed over time.

He broke with his fellow Republicans in 2022 by voting for the Respect for Marriage Act protecting same-sex and interracial marriages, after voting against the 2021 Equality Act, which would have prohibited anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination in employment, housing and other areas.

Rollins said he and his partner “came of age when being gay was still a crime in many states, homophobia was pervasive, same-sex marriage was illegal, and LGBTQ people were not allowed to serve openly in the military.”

The Democrat has blamed GOP leaders for supporting conservative Supreme Court justices who could dismantle gay rights, and said he would fight to pass the Equality Act.

War in Gaza

Calvert sponsored the Israel Security Assistance Support Act, which rebukes the Biden administration for pausing an arms shipment to Israel, urges “expeditious delivery” of weapons and security services, and seeks to withhold salaries of government employees who try to limit such deliveries to Israel.

Rollins said he wants to see more humanitarian aid for people in the Gaza Strip as well as increased “military precision in the region to protect innocent lives, because far too many have already been lost.” He said that Hamas, which he called “a terrorist organization,” must release the remaining hostages from its Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel, and that the U.S. should “remain committed to the long-term goal of a two-state solution.”

2020 election falsehoods

Calvert was among more than 100 GOP House members who signed an amicus brief in December 2020 asking the Supreme Court to overturn election results in four swing states that Joe Biden had won. After the Jan. 6 insurrection, he voted against certifying the election results from Pennsylvania and Arizona. Calvert said that although he had concerns about the electoral process in both states, he believes Biden was legitimately elected.

Rollins said that he does not believe the 2020 election was stolen and that he will trust the outcome of the 2024 vote. As an assistant U.S. attorney, the Democrat helped prosecute Southern California residents who took part in the Jan. 6 insurrection, including Gina Bisignano, a Beverly Hills salon owner who was videotaped outside the Capitol yellling through a megaphone: “You are not going to take away our Trumpy bear.”