Trump Poised To Lose Riverside County; Temecula Leaders Emerge

TEMECULA, CA — While thousands of ballots remain to be processed in Riverside County, it's two weeks post-Nov. 3 Election and most races in Temecula 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 Temecula included Assembly District 75, Congressional Districts 42 and 50, city council seats and Temecula Valley Unified School District trustee seats. Here's how those races stand as of Tuesday.

Temecula Valley Unified School District

In Trustee Area 1, Fire Department Captain Steve Loner remains well ahead in the race with 5,676 votes. Fellow challenger Robert Bryant Jr., a youth program director, has garnered 3,621 votes. Both men are hoping to unseat incumbent Lee Darling, who lags well behind with 1,255 votes.
In Trustee Area 5, Steven Schwartz is leading the race with 4,632 votes. Brooklynn McClure has garnered 4,362 votes, while Enrique Perez has 4,238. Mark Katan is trailing the three front runners with just 902 votes. Trustee Area 5 incumbent Kristi Rutz-Robbins was not on the ballot.
Perez is a business executive/parent, Schwartz a retired teacher, McClure a parent, and Katan an executive director, according to their candidate filings.

Temecula City Council

In District 2, Jessica Alexander is well ahead of Andy Black and Alisha Wilkins.
In District 4, voters are filling the seat left open in June when then-Mayor James "Stew" Stewart resigned after a controversial text he sent spurred allegations of racism. Stewart was on the 2020 ballot and is well ahead in the race by nearly 1,200 votes and appears poised to claim the seat over other District 4 candidates Mark Gular, Sonia Perez and Adam Ruiz.

State Assembly District 75 (the district also includes San Diego County)

In Riverside County, incumbent Marie Waldren (R) leads Democratic challenger Karen "Kate" Schwartz in Riverside County by nearly 10,000 votes.

Congressional District 42

The Associated Press has called this race for incumbent Ken Calvert (R), who currently leads Democratic challenger William "Liam" O'Mara by nearly 50,000 votes.

Congressional District 50 (the district also includes San Diego County)

The Associated Press has called this race for Darrell Issa (R). In Riverside County, Issa leads Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar by nearly 4,000 votes.

Scroll below for live Riverside County election results: