Lots Of Local Races Very Close; Ballots Will Be Counted For Days…If Not Longer

As of 10 a-m Weds Nov 6th 2024. Riverside County has 1,372,289  registered voters. 547,742 ballots have been counted so far. 90-thousand people voted in person.  451-thousand people voted by mail. 6-thousand people dropped off their mail-in ballots at a vote center. 

Voter turnout is at 39.9%.   

320,000 Vote-by-Mail and 35,000 Conditional ballots remain to be counted. In addition, Vote-by-Mail ballots postmarked on or before Election Day must be received by November 12, 2024 and they will be counted.  The next updated results will be posted at 6:00pm on Wednesday, 11/6/2024.

Donald Trump has defeated Kamala Harris and heads back to the White House.

Adam Schiff, a vocal adamant critic of Donald Trump, easily defeated Steve Garvey to win a U S Senate seat.

Raul Ruiz has been reelected to the 25th Congressional District seat, winning easily in Riverside and Imperial Counties to get the win.  Ian Weeks had more votes  in San Bernardino County.

In the 41st Congressional District race, Ken Calvert leads Will Rollins by 2,242 votes.  

Congresswoman Maxine Waters has been reelected again in California’s 43rd Congressional District in Los Angeles.   Waters is  86 years old, has been in Congress for 34 years. 

CA State Senate in the new 19th District  Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. Interesting result here.

Lisa Middleton is easily winning in Riverside County.

Rosilie Ochoa Bogh –who is the incumbent in the 23rd CA State Senate District is winning easily in San Bernardino County.

Overall, Bogh leads Middleton by 15,535 votes.

CA Assembly 36th District–Riverside, Imperial and San Bernardino Counties

Jeff Gonzalez leads Joey  Acuna Jr by 1,585 votes.

Acuna has a solid lead in Imperial County, while Gonzalez has a slim lead in Riverside County, and Gonzalez has a huge lead in San Bernardino County

Incumbent Eduardo Garcia did not seek reelection

CA Assembly 47th District   Riverside and San Bernardino Counties.

Christy Holstege leads Greg Wallis by 1,140 votes, with Holstege easily winning in Riverside County and Wallis with a big lead in San Bernardino County.

Judge –Riverside County Superior Court, Elizabeth Tucker cruises to a win over Gerald Pfohl. 

Desert Community College Board, the winners are Mary Jane Sanchez, Ron Oden and Mark Meyer who has a 668 vote lead over Bonnie Stefan

Rita Lamb and Nancy Ross both won re-election to the City Council in Cathedral City.   Ross was unopposed.

Steven Hernandez is winner of the race for Mayor of Coachella.

Only 3,894 people vote for mayor, and Henandez grabbed 2,242 of those votes.  Coachella has  a population of about 45-thousand people.

Denise Delgado was reelected to the Coachella City Council.

Yadira Perez was elected to the Coachella City Council.

Scott Matas leads Russell Betts by 378 votes in the race for Mayor in Desert Hot Springs.

City Council Desert Hot Springs, District 2, Daniel Pitts leads Roger Nunez by 21 votes.

City Council District 4 in DHS, Dirk Voss leads Gary Carroll by 260 votes.

Indian Wells, City Council winners are Greg Sanders, Toper Taylor, and Brian Penna.

Indio City Council….Glenn Miller ran unopposed so he wins reelection to the District 1 City Council seat.

Stunning upset in Indio Council District 5, where Ben Guitron, long time Public Information Officer for the Indio Police Department, has a 902 vote lead incumbent Lupe Ramos Amith who has been on the Indio City Council since 2004 and has served as Mayor 5 times, including being the current Mayor.

In La Quinta, Linda Evans had no problem being reelected as Mayor.

13-thousand people voted for Mayor in La Quinta and nearly 10-thousand of them voted for Mayor Evans.  La Quinta has  a population of about 39-thousand people.

Two familiar names have been reelected to the La Quinta City Council, incumbents Steve Sanchez and Kathleen Fitzpatrick.

Palm Desert City Council, the new Districts in town.

In tiny District 1,  Karina Quintanilla leads Chris Scott by 103 votes. Only 

1,953 votes cast in District 1 in Palm Desert, in a city with a population of about 52-thousand people.

District 2 in Palm Desert, Joe Pradetto leads Kathleen Kelly by 399 votes.

District 3  in Palm Desert Gina Nestande leads Anyse Smith by 280 votes.

Palm Springs City Council District 4, Naomi Soto leads Joseph Jackson by 102 votes.

Palm Springs District 5, Former City Manager David Ready was unopposed and wins a City Council seat.

Ted Weill and Michael O’Keefe were reelected to the City Council in Rancho Mirage.

Property taxes will be going up, Measure S, bond measure for the Palm Springs Unified School District needed 55% to pass, it is passing with 74% of the vote.

Sales tax is going up in Palm Desert, as 65% of voters approved Measure G, a 1 penny increase in the sales tax.

In Palm Springs, you will be paying that extra 1 penny sales tax increase from Measure J for eternity, as 71% of voters approved extending that forever.

Desert Hot Springs shoppers, you will also be paying more in sales tax, as 77% of voters approve Measure P, a 1 penny increase in the sales tax.

Cathedral City 73% of voters said yes to Measure W,  increasing the 1 penny local sales tax by 50%, so that tax is now 1 and a half cents on the dollar.   It started out as a 1 cent tax in 2010 for 5 years, then in 2014, voters extended it to eternity.  Now 2024, the tax goes from 1 penny to 1 and a half pennies.

71% of voters approved Measure AA, the new 30 year lease and purchase agreement of Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs.   That agreement is between the Desert Healthcare District and Foundation and Tenet Health.

Measure Y in Coachella, is losing by a 3 vote margin. It would give the City Council in Coachella authority to raise the hotel tax in town to a rate between 9% and 13%.  

The current hotel tax in town in 9%. It applies to short term vacation rental units as well. Coachella does not have any hotels in town.