Results: Republican Rep. Ken Calvert defeats Democrat Will Rollins in California's 41st Congressional District election

• Rep. Ken Calvert defeated Democrat Will Rollins in California's 41st Congressional District.
• The 41st District includes the city of Corona, Calvert's hometown. 
• Calvert, who had a history of opposing same-sex marriage, faced Rollins in a district that includes Palm Springs, a city that has a large LGBTQ community.  

Republican Rep. Ken Calvert defeated Democrat Will Rollins in California's 41st Congressional District.

Polls closed in the state at 8 p.m. local time, or 11 p.m. EST.

California's 41st Congressional District candidates

Calvert is a senior member of the House Committee on Appropriations. First elected to the US House in 1992 to represent California's 43rd Congressional District, Calvert is the longest-serving Republican of the state's congressional delegation and one of the most senior members serving in the legislative body. 

Prior to his time in Congress, the Riverside County Republican served in leadership roles with several local community volunteer organizations, including the Corona Chamber of Commerce, the Corona Rotary, and the Corona-Norco Family YMCA. 

Calvert, who clinched former President Donald Trump's endorsement along with endorsements from the California Republican Party and the state's entire Republican House delegation, previously opposed same-sex marriage but joined 46 of his GOP colleagues to vote in support of the Respect for Marriage Act, which would codify the right to same-sex marriage in federal law. 

Rollins, Calvert's challenger, is a former federal prosecutor who focused on counterterrorism and counterintelligence cases in Southern California. He decided to run for Congress after witnessing the January 6 attack on the US Capitol and working on some of the insurrection cases. A gay man, Rollins lives and campaigns with his partner. 

Rollins trailed behind Calvert in the nonpartisan primary, securing 30.4% of the vote to Calvert's 48.2%. Both men advanced to the general election. A month after the primary, Rollins was added to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's "Red to Blue" program, which pumps resources into tight races that national Democratic party leaders believe can be flipped from Republican to Democrat.

Voting history for California's 41st Congressional District

California's 41st Congressional District, located in Riverside County, covers a swath of the Coachella Valley and includes Palm Springs, Lake Elsinore, and parts of Corona and Riverside. 

Trump scored a 7 percentage point margin of victory over President Joe Biden under the district's previous boundaries in 2020 before it was redrawn to excise solid GOP areas and take in a section of the Coachella Valley in redistricting following the 2020 Census, making it competitive and less Republican.

The district lost solid red areas such as Temecula and Murrieta while gaining blue territory, most notably Palm Springs, the first city in America to elect an all-LGBTQ city council. 

The money race

According to OpenSecrets, Calvert has raised more than $3.3 million, spent $3 million, and has $730,000 on hand, as of October 19. His opponent, Rollins, has raised more than $3.3 million, spent more than $2.5 million, and has $755,000 cash on hand.

As of late October, more than a dozen super PACs, national party committees, politically active nonprofits, and other non-candidate groups have together spent more than $900,000 to advocate for or against candidates in this race, including during the race's primary phase. Most of the spending is in support of Rollins. 

What experts say

The race between Calvert and Rollins is rated as "lean Republican" by The Cook Political Report and "likely Republican" by Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.