Meet the Democrats vying to challenge Ken Calvert for the 41st Congressional District

On Feb 22, 2022

Democratic congressional candidates Brandon Mosely, Will Rollins, and Shrina Kurani,

In what could be one of the more competitive congressional races in California, a trio of Democrats are vying to be the main challenger against long-time GOP Rep. Ken Calvert, who will be seeking re-election in a new district that includes parts of the Coachella Valley.

California’s once-in-a-decade redistricting process, which wrapped up in December, guaranteed that much of the valley will be represented by a new person in Congress. Democratic Rep. Raul Ruiz, who has represented the entire valley since 2013, is running in a district that includes Indio, Coachella, Cathedral City and Desert Hot Springs, as well as Imperial County and a sliver of San Bernardino County.

Congressman Ken Calvert speaks at the Coachella Valley Conservatives luncheon at the Classic Club in Palm Desert, Calif., on Sunday, Feb. 20, 2022.

The newly drawn lines mean that Calvert, who has represented portions of western Riverside County since 1993, will run in the new 41st congressional district, which now includes Palm Springs, La Quinta, Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert, along with Menifee, Norco and Corona.

More:GOP Rep. Ken Calvert will seek re-election in new district that includes Palm Springs

Calvert has comfortably won re-election in races over the past decade, but the state’s redistricting process resulted in him now running in a district with a fairly even ideological split: Registered Republicans comprise 36.7% of voters in the new district, while Democrats make up 36.2% of the electorate, according to Political Data Inc., a statewide voting analytics firm.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee also has targeted the district as one to flip, adding it to its nationwide list of “districts in play” in January.

Each of the Democrats running in the district — Will Rollins, Brandon Mosely and Shrina Kurani — are seeking victories that would mark historic milestones.

Rollins, a former federal prosecutor, would be the first openly gay man to represent the Coachella Valley in Congress, while Mosely, a teacher and nonprofit founder, is seeking to be the state’s first Black man sent to Congress in more than two decades. At 29, Kurani would be the youngest U.S. representative currently serving from California.

While the June 7 primary is a few months away, another crucial date is approaching, as the California Democratic Party will hold its convention in early March, at which point one of the candidates could receive the party’s endorsement — a nod that can give substantial momentum to a campaign.

At the local party’s pre-endorsement meeting in mid-February, none of the candidates garnered the requisite 70% threshold to gain the nomination, but Rollins led the pack with 57% of the vote, while Mosely got roughly 33% and Kurani had about 9% of the members’ support.

Ex-prosecutor Rollins, who just moved to Palm Springs, seeks seat

Rollins, the former federal prosecutor, is the only Democrat seeking the congressional seat who lives in the Coachella Valley, after moving with his partner from Canyon Lake to Palm Springs earlier this year.

“Once the lines were finalized, and we knew that I’d be representing, if elected, all of the desert communities, as well as Canyon Lake, Lake Elsinore, Corona, I think we were just really excited to be in one of the most well-known LGBTQ-friendly cities in the United States,” Rollins told The Desert Sun.

While working as a federal prosecutor in the Central District of California, a post he held until starting his campaign, Rollins says he saw a steady rise in domestic extremism and hate crimes that culminated with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol — an event that he says drove him to run for office.

“I think that seeing Ken Calvert vote to overturn the election after 140 police officers were injured in that attack – five officers died as a result of that attack – I think that’s what prompted me to (run),” Rollins said. “I didn’t want to look back on my life and regret not trying to unseat a Republican who undermined our democracy at a moment that is critical in the country’s history.”

Calvert, who joined more than 100 other House Republicans in voting against certifying the election results in certain states, including Pennsylvania and Arizona, stood by his vote in a January interview, noting some Democrats have opposed certifying election results in recent presidential elections.

“I suspect (my opponents) want to talk about January 6, because they don’t want to talk about the border, law and order, what’s happened in Afghanistan, morale in the United States military, what’s happening in Ukraine,” Calvert said.

Rollins also said he wants to serve in Congress by “improving the lives of the people who actually live here.” The 37-year-old criticized Calvert for supporting a GOP tax bill in 2017 that slashed rates for corporations and lowered individual rates at each income level.

Echoing criticisms from Democrats at the time the bill passed, Rollins condemned the legislation as a boon only to upper-class Americans, noting a study by White House economists that found many middle-class Americans have higher tax rates than the country’s 400 wealthiest families.

“That’s a product of Calvert’s votes,” Rollins said.

Calvert responded to the criticism by pointing to the country’s 2019 unemployment rate, which was at its lowest level since 1969, as evidence of Republicans’ successful approach toward the economy.

“We had the highest rates of income and opportunity for minorities and women, in many, many years …. So (the reform) was working marvelously up until this whole COVID problem,” Calvert said.

Beyond economic issues, Rollins sees considerable environmental possibilities in the district, stating he views the Coachella Valley, and Riverside County more broadly, as a potential ”Silicon Valley-equivalent for green, clean tech energy and high-tech manufacturing.”

“To create a hub of high-tech manufacturing here, you allow clean-tech startups to pay literally $0 in federal income taxes for the first five years that they exist,” Rollins said. “I think that would be a great way to incentivize new businesses to open in places like Riverside County, where we’ve got a lot of solar and wind tech potential.”

Since launching his campaign, Rollins has accrued several endorsements from larger organizations, including Equality California and the LGBTQ Victory Fund, as well as local officials, such as Palm Springs council members Geoff Kors and Christy Holstege. He also received the endorsement of the Desert Stonewall Democrats in mid-February.

Although some national polling has indicated Democrats could face a challenging midterm cycle, Rollins was optimistic on his prospects of unseating Calvert, noting this will be the first midterms following the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

“I think most Americans are going to prioritize the rule of law and democracy in the midterms,” Rollins said.

Kurani hopes to use scientific expertise in Congress

At 29, Kurani would be one of the youngest members of Congress if elected, and she believes her scientific background as a mechanical engineer — which led her to consult on environmental projects for Sempra Energy, NASA and a few international companies — would serve her well in helping craft federal climate policies.

“(Climate change) is a big part of what we need to get done in Congress, because that intersects with the economy, the cost of climate change — what we’re seeing, for example, with increased wildfire risk here, and what that does to debris falls and mudslides that are affecting residents,” Kurani said. “Often, everyday Americans end up footing the bill because we don’t have the proper insurance mechanisms in place.”

“If we’re going to protect our environment for future generations, for my future children and my future grandchildren, then we’re going to need to vote out the biggest enemies to climate legislation in Congress,” she added.

Specifically, Kurani said, addressing climate change goes beyond the “sexier” aspects, such as electrifying modes of transportation, and must also focus on bolstering existing buildings, which are estimated to account for roughly a third of greenhouse gas emissions globally.

“How are buildings emitting carbon? A big part of that is heating and cooling, and so (we should be) increasing efficiency in heat pumps and investing in that,” Kurani said.

Kurani, who also attended the United Nations climate negotiations in Glasgow last year, took aim at Calvert for his record on climate change, noting he has a lifetime voting score of 7% from the League of Conservation Voters.

In response, Calvert said he views climate change as an issue, but he criticized President Joe Biden’s approach toward energy production, arguing the federal government should pursue policies that promote natural gas, which emits about half as much carbon dioxide as coal and 30% less than oil, according to the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.