Meet 41st Congressional District Candidate Will Rollins

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — Democrat Will Rollins is looking to unseat 41st Congressional Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona) during the Nov. 5 election. It is the second time the former federal prosecutor has challenged the long-serving congressman. In 2022, Calvert narrowly held his seat with just 52.35% of the vote.

Will the 2024 election outcome be different? It is a closely watched race around the nation because it could help determine the balance of power in Washington next year.

The 41st District is diverse and encompasses a vast swath of Riverside County. It includes the cities of Corona, Norco, Lake Elsinore, Wildomar, Canyon Lake, Menifee, Calimesa, Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, La Quinta, Indian Wells, and portions of Eastvale and Riverside. The district also includes the unincorporated areas of El Sobrante, Woodcrest, Temescal Valley, Lakeview, Nuevo, Homeland, Winchester, Cherry Valley, Anza, Pine Cove and Idyllwild.

To help voters in the 41st glean more information about the candidates, Patch reached out to Calvert and Rollins with a list of identical questions that are top-of-mind for many. Rollins responded, and his unedited answers are below. (If Calvert responds, Patch will publish his unedited answers, too.)

P: What do you see as the top three most important challenges facing the 41st Congressional District?

WR: The next Congress must lower costs and create higher-paying jobs for Inland Empire families, pass significant anti-corruption reforms to restore faith in Washington, and protect women’s freedom to make their own healthcare decisions.

P: If elected/reelected, what would you do to address these challenges?

WR: To help lower housing costs in the Inland Empire, I support a $10,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers — or for families who want to trade-up for more space — and a crackdown on corporate investors that are buying up properties across Riverside County and jacking up rents. I also support restoring the federal SALT deduction to put more money into the pockets of California families, especially as they’re confronted with higher interest rates. Congress should also expand upon the bipartisan infrastructure bill (which is delivering $300 million to Riverside County and helping to create six-figure jobs), help expand job training programs and access to capital for residents who want to start a new business, and work to expand the annual cap on the out-of-pocket cost of more types of prescription drugs and insulin for vulnerable families in the Inland Empire.

Congress’s approval rating is also near all-time lows. Neither party has a monopoly on corruption, as recently evidenced by George Santos and Bob Menendez. That is why I support a ban on stock trading by members, stronger conflict-of-interest rules to prohibit members from using inside information about earmarks to benefit their own real estate investments, term limits, a lifetime ban on lobbying by former members of Congress, and campaign finance reform that would ideally reduce the length of campaigns and the amount of money needed to win them so that more ordinary Americans can run for federal office.

Finally, we must restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land. I do not believe law enforcement officers should ever be tasked with investigating women who have miscarriages, let alone doctors and families seeking IVF treatment — yet all of that is now possible in many states in America, and could be federalized if an anti-abortion majority wins control of Congress and the White House. I think even many Republicans in our communities oppose the huge federal government expansion that would accompany nationalized, government-mandated pregnancies. I will fight to ensure women have the freedom to make their own healthcare decisions.

P: Do you believe climate change is a priority in the region and beyond? Why/why not?

WR: Yes, and unfortunately, my opponent has suggested that climate change is a “hoax.” That is completely irresponsible for any elected official to say, in my opinion.

Not only is fighting climate change a priority in our region to save our planet, but it’s an opportunity to grow our economy. My former boss, Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, taught me that point precisely.

Here in the Inland Empire, we can develop thousands of jobs in our expanding green energy economy. With the right tax incentives to encourage small, clean-tech businesses to start in the Inland Empire and Coachella Valley — and investment in major infrastructure projects across Riverside County — we can grow our economy, improve public transit, and protect the planet all at the same time.

P: On the issue of climate change, what are your concerns (if any) for Coachella Valley residents and what are some possible solutions to protect lives in that region during periods of extreme heat?

WR: For those in the Coachella Valley, the obvious concern is that it is getting hotter and hotter every single year, with Palm Springs setting a record temperature this summer at 124 degrees one day in July. For workers whose jobs are outside — and for the unhoused — the heat can unfortunately be fatal.

We need to make sure that our county’s cooling centers have the staffing and resources that they need to remain operational at all times during the hottest months of the year. And for those that are unhoused, we need to invest in and expand permanent affordable housing throughout the Coachella Valley so that we can get folks off our streets and into cooler temperatures.

We also need to continue to invest in renewable technologies that lower energy costs for Riverside County residents and ensure that we have sufficient power on our grid to prevent blackouts, which can literally kill seniors and other vulnerable residents in the middle of summer. I also support ensuring that our first responders have the resources they need to respond to extreme heat waves, whether it’s by putting out fires, warning citizens in the days and hours before rising temperatures, assisting residents seeking cool shelter, or treating heat stroke and dehydration.

P: Do you believe that safe, legal abortion is a woman's right? Why/why not?

WR: Yes, unlike my opponent, I believe that reproductive freedom is deeply personal and should be a protected right. Women and their loved ones should not have this fundamental freedom subjected to the whim of politicians who happen to be in office or courts that do not honor a woman’s right to make decisions about her family. Women’s freedom should be permanent, not put at risk with each election cycle.

My opponent, Ken Calvert, has backed a six-week abortion ban, voted to functionally end IVF fertility treatments for service members and block them for veterans, voted to make it harder for pregnant servicewomen to receive abortions, and backed overturning Roe v. Wade and taking away the right of women to make their own healthcare decisions.

P: Do you believe that the federal minimum wage should be higher? Why/why not?

WR: Yes, I believe that we need to ensure that wages keep up with rising costs. While we are fortunate in California that our minimum wage is a living wage, I believe that our federal minimum wage should increase from $7.25 to $15 an hour, including indexing to parity for tipped workers.

P: Would you work across the aisle to address immigration reform? Please explain.

WR: Absolutely. Career politicians like Ken Calvert don’t want to fix our broken immigration system because they’d rather run on it as a political problem than roll up their sleeves and do something to fix it. When a bipartisan border security bill was before Congress this year, Calvert refused to support it because Donald Trump told him and his MAGA colleagues to kill it so they could continue to blame Democrats for inaction and score political points. It’s unacceptable behavior from our elected officials.

In Congress, I’ll fight for comprehensive immigration reform that will secure our country’s borders, create a modern immigration system that reflects American values, provide a pathway to citizenship for qualified immigrants, and support the labor needs of businesses in Riverside County and the U.S. I am proud to have the endorsement of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 10,000 border patrol agents.

P: Do you believe this country needs gun reform? If yes, what are some examples?

WR: I believe that our country does need common-sense gun safety legislation to take weapons of war off our streets and keep our kids safe, while respecting the rights of responsible gun owners. We need basic violent history checks for all firearm purchases, federal red flag laws, safe gun storage rules, bans on large-capacity magazines, and we need to raise the minimum age for certain gun purchases up to 21 years old.

My opponent is bankrolled by the gun lobby and has repeatedly voted against the Violence Against Women Act. I believe his opposition to common-sense reform is out-of-step with most folks in Riverside County.

P: Do you believe the Affordable Care Act should be gutted? Can you provide specifics?

WR: Absolutely not. The ACA is critical legislation that protects access to affordable healthcare for countless Americans with pre-existing conditions who would otherwise be uninsured. I also believe that we can expand beyond the ACA and create a public option to help close the coverage gap in Riverside County and across the country. In Congress, I will support reform policies that prioritize people over price-gouging insurance corporations. Unlike my opponent, who is in the pocket of the pharmaceutical industry, I will support capping the cost of insulin at $35, capping prescription drug costs for seniors at $2,000 a year, and lowering the Medicare eligibility age while protecting Medicare’s ability to negotiate with drug companies over more drugs to help lower costs.

P: Fentanyl and other narcotics continue to plague the region (addiction, crime, homelessness). What do you see as viable policies/strategies to help curb the problem?

WR: As a federal prosecutor, I took on drug cartels to help stop the flow of fentanyl into the United States. We need to fully fund our border patrol to help crack down on illegal drugs from crossing the border. My opponent refused to support bipartisan legislation this year that would have added 1,500 border patrol agents to do just that. While Ken Calvert refuses to take action, I will.

I also believe we need to expand the ACA to require insurance companies to provide better forms of addiction treatment and housing for families whose children — including young adults — are struggling with drug and opioid abuse. I’ve heard from parents in my district who were unable to obtain coverage for more than 30 days of inpatient addiction treatment, when the reality is that addicts need much more time in sober living facilities, for example, to increase their odds of success.

P: Should religion be separate from government policies?

WR: I believe in the separation of church and state. Our founders rightly saw the destruction and death caused by nations throughout human history that sought to impose the religious views of the few on the many, with or without their consent. Unfortunately, even in the United States, even in the year 2024, we now find ourselves living with justices of the Supreme Court who (in my view) have chosen to impose their own personal religious views on hundreds of millions of women by stripping them of their freedom to control their own bodies. We need a Congress that will defend the separation of church and state, individual liberty, and all forms of religious and spiritual freedom, including the freedom to make decisions about one’s own body.

Having grown up in an Irish Catholic family on my mom’s side and a Protestant family on my dad’s side, I understand and respect the views of a variety of faiths, and I’ve seen firsthand how religion can lead to acts of extraordinary kindness and generosity. While faith can shape our leaders’ values, I do not believe that the government should ever be used to impose personal religious morality on Americans of different faiths or upon Americans who choose not to worship at all. I will always fight to protect the separation of church and state in this country.

P: This is an obvious question — who do you want to see become the next POTUS — but I'm hoping you can tell me why?

WR: Kamala Harris. Riverside County cannot afford another four years of Donald Trump, who left our country in massive debt, “proudly” ended reproductive freedom for women, and raised taxes on Californians while cutting them for billionaires in Wyoming. The former president is unfit to serve in the Oval Office for so many reasons, but two of the most profound are his continued refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election (no president in our history has ever previously tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power), and his theft of highly classified information left scattered around his golf club, putting an untold number of lives at risk.

P: What is something not addressed above that you see as a priority(s)/issue(s)?

WR: Corruption is out of control in Washington, and Ken Calvert is Exhibit A. While your costs have risen, Ken Calvert has been using your taxpayer dollars to increase the value of his own real estate investments. We need reform now in D.C. That includes stronger ethics rules, term limits, a ban on stock trading by members of Congress, and a ban on former members of Congress from lobbying.

For more information about Rollins, visit his campaign website.