Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) suspended his gubernatorial campaign Sunday after four women accused him of sexual misconduct or assault.
One woman, a former staffer of the congressman, told the San Francisco Chronicle and CNN that Swalwell sexually assaulted her twice, in 2019 and 2024. Another woman told CNN that she woke up in Swalwell’s hotel room with no memory of how she’d gotten there. Two others told CNN that they’d received unsolicited sexual photos and messages from Swalwell. Swalwell has denied the allegations, though has seemed to allude to infidelity to his wife in various statements.
The allegations prompted a flood of Democrats to withdraw their endorsements, urge Swalwell to drop out of the race and call for his resignation from Congress before his term is up in January. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said Saturday that it is investigating the allegation of sexual assault that allegedly occured in New York in 2024; the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office said that it’s “evaluating” whether criminal conduct occured in 2019.
“I will fight the serious, false allegations that have been made — but that’s my fight, not a campaign’s,” Swalwell said Sunday on Twitter.
The push for Swalwell’s expulsion could trigger a historic week in the House, as various lawmakers from both parties call to also boot Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) (who admitted to having an affair with a subordinate who later committed suicide), Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) (who allegedly assaulted a woman and threatened his ex-girlfriend with revenge porn) and Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL) (who allegedly embezzled COVID relief money to fund her campaign).
But on top of all that, Swalwell’s disgraceful downfall adds a new wrinkle to an already strange California race.
Swalwell, who had a slight if not decisive edge, had been duking it out with former Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) and billionaire-turned-presidential candidate Tom Steyer. A huge group of lesser-known Democrats also languished in the single digits, refusing to exit the race and keeping the vote share split. Meanwhile, two Republicans — former Fox News host Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff and voter fraud alarmist Chad Bianco — were splitting the GOP vote, raising the specter that the two Republicans would advance to the general election in the state’s jungle primary system, locking Democrats out of the governor’s mansion in the biggest blue state.
Democratic party leaders, including the term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), had largely avoided endorsing in the race, seeming to hope that the standoff would resolve on its own.
Last week, things began to change. President Donald Trump, ironically, was the first to throw the paralyzed Democrats a lifeline, endorsing Hilton on April 6 against the wishes of state Republicans. Analysts expect the endorsement to push some of Bianco’s supporters to the president’s choice, potentially decreasing his vote share enough for a Democrat to get through to the general election.
When asked whether the endorsement was a tactical mistake, Hilton told the New York Times that Democrats never would have allowed the Republicans to finish in the top two spots and that the endorsement made it more likely that voters would have a “real choice in November.”
California Republicans, though, did not follow Trump’s lead at the state party’s annual convention over the weekend, with delegates failing to endorse either candidate. Bianco was reportedly expected to win the state party’s endorsement before the Trump nod, though, suggesting that some delegates were swayed by the president’s intervention.
The Republicans failing to evenly split the percentage of the vote available to them is only one way for Democrats to avoid the nightmare lockout scenario. The other is for one of the Democratic candidates to catch real fire and pull ahead of the crowded pack.
Swalwell had been leading, slightly, with around 11 or 12 percent in most polls. If those voters redistribute themselves to Porter or Steyer, that would likely be enough for that candidate to get through.
Some of the California heavyweights may start intervening more aggressively to prod would-be Swalwell voters in one direction. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was quick off the mark to call for Swalwell, who she hadn’t endorsed, to exit the race after the allegations broke.
