Trump Losing Riverside County; Pass Area Leaders Emerge

BANNING-BEAUMONT, CA — While thousands of ballots remain to be processed in Riverside County, it's two weeks post-Nov. 3 Election and most races in Banning and Beaumont have very clear leaders.

As of Tuesday morning, approximately 45,000 timely postmarked vote-by-mail ballots and 25,000 provisional ballots remain to be processed in the county. Additionally, under state law the Riverside County Registrar of Voters must continue to accept timely postmarked ballots through Friday.

While outstanding ballots remain, in Riverside County Joe Biden (D) leads Republican President Donald Trump by nearly 77,000 votes. The current tally is 493,368 ballots cast for Biden and 416,515 for Trump.

If the lead holds, Biden may win the 2020 contest by a greater margin than Hillary Clinton (D) did four years ago. In 2016, Clinton beat Trump by just over 60,000 votes. Clinton garnered 373,695 ballots cast or 50.11 percent from county voters compared to 333,243 or 44.68 percent for Trump

Aside from national politics, key races in Banning and Beaumont included Measure L (Banning only), a Beaumont Unified School District seat, city council seats, State Assembly District 42, State Senate District 23, and Congressional District 36.

Here's how those races stand as of Tuesday morning.

Measure L (Banning)

Measure L appears poised for passage with 7,050 Yes ballots compared to 3,190 No votes. The measure imposes a gross receipts tax — capped at 10 percent — on marijuana distribution outlets. It requires only a simple majority to pass.

Beaumont Unified School District

In Trustee Area 1, incumbent Brian Sylva is running for a seat on the Mt. San Jacinto Community College District board of trustees, so voters decided between two candidates: Kevin Palkki, an educator, and Shawn Mitchell, a retired Beaumont USD principal.
As of Tuesday morning, Mitchell was leading by just over 760 votes.

Beaumont City Council

In Beaumont, the city still has an "at-large" election process — where voters across the city choose between all candidates on the ballot, regardless of where they live. This year, three candidates vied for two seats on the council. One of those is currently held by Nancy Carroll, who was not running for re-election, and the other is held by Julio Martinez, who was on the ballot. The other two candidates running were Jessica Black and David Fenn.
The Beaumont race is tight. As of Tuesday morning, Fenn was leading the contest with a total of 9,313 votes. Martinez has 9,124 total votes compared to Black with 8,695.

Banning City Council

Daniela Andrade, who currently represents District 1, was not running. Instead, voters in the district chose between Alberto A. Sanchez and Nick Fraser. Sanchez was in the lead with a total of 725 votes compared to Fraser's 638.
In District 2, incumbent Kyle Pingree was unopposed.
Incumbent Art Welch, District 3, faced challengers Mary Hamlin and George Moyer. Hamlin has taken a significant lead in the ballot count, with 1,897 votes compared to Moyer's 1,053 and Welch's 1,038.

State Senate District 23 (includes portions of Riverside, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties)

Abigail Medina (D) is trailing Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh (R) by more than 13,000 votes in Riverside County.

State Assembly District 42

Incumbent Chad Mayes, who filed as No Party Preference, is leading over Republican challenger Andrew F. Kotyuk by more than 26,000 votes.

36th Congressional District

Democratic incumbent Dr. Raul Ruiz has a large lead over Tea Party Republican challenger Erin Cruz. The Associated Press has declared Ruiz the winner. If he is the official victor once all ballots are tabulated, Ruiz will garner a fifth term representing much of Riverside County in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Scroll for the latest Riverside County election results: