GOP's Ken Calvert leads Will Rollins by 1,598 votes Friday night in race for Congress

GOP Rep. Ken Calvert remained in the lead Friday in his race for reelection against Democratic challenger Will Rollins, who had been ahead by almost 10,000 votes in early results in Southern California's 41st District in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Calvert now leads with 50.6% of the vote, according to figures updated Friday evening by the Riverside County Registrar of Voters. He and Rollins were separated by 1,598 votes.

As of Thursday evening, Calvert had been ahead by 1,285 votes.

About 205,000 vote-by-mail and 10,000 provisional ballots still must be processed, the Riverside County Registrar of Voters said. Ballots that are postmarked on or before Election Day also remain to be counted. The next updated results will be posted at 6 p.m. Saturday at voteinfo.net.

Calvert is seeking reelection in a district that includes large portions of the Coachella Valley after last year's redistricting process. He was confident in his chances even as Rollins took a substantial early lead, a sentiment he echoed Thursday.

"After this morning’s update we’ve not only closed the gap but are now in the lead," Calvert said in a statement. "We fully expect that lead will grow as more ballots are counted. Again, we will prevail!"

The district includes several valley cities — Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, La Quinta, Palm Desert and Indian Wells — along with Corona, Menifee and Norco in western Riverside County.

Rollins, who struck an optimistic tone at a watch party in Palm Springs on Tuesday, said Thursday his team "still feels great about our current position."

"The registrar has told us that they’ve counted nearly all of the in-person votes, and we’ve seen that we’re even with Rep. Calvert," Rollins said.

California's post-census redistricting divided the Coachella Valley in half, with the 41st District covering most of the western and central valley. The 25th District, where incumbent Democrat Raul Ruiz cruised to another term, includes Indio, Coachella, Cathedral City and Desert Hot Springs.

Tom Coulter covers the cities of Palm Desert, La Quinta, Rancho Mirage and Indian Wells. Reach him at thomas.coulter@desertsun.com or on Twitter @tomcoulter_.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Friday update: 1,598 votes separate Calvert, Rollins in U.S. House race