Swalwell campaign imploding after new sexual assault allegation
By: Melanie Mason and Jeremy B. White (POLITICO)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Multiple people resigned in advance of a report that an ex-staffer accused him of sexual assault.
Rep. Eric Swalwell's campaign for governor was reeling Friday after two news reports detailed accusations of sexual assault and misconduct, with multiple staffers resigning and both prominent allies and rival candidates calling on the California Democrat to exit the race.
The exodus, which began just before the San Francisco Chronicle published a report detailing a former staffer's claims, jolted California's marquee race just weeks before ballots start landing in voters' mailboxes. The former staffer told the newspaper that Swalwell had sexual encounters with her while working for him, and that he sexually assaulted her twice when she was too drunk to consent.
Hours later, CNN reported on that ex-staffer and three additional women who accused Swalwell of making sexual advances and sending explicit photos and messages. And POLITICO reported that a former Swalwell employee had signed an agreement over an employment discrimination claim that included confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses, despite his campaign saying no one on his staff signed an NDA during his tenure.
The dominoes tumbled quickly. Top staffers departed the campaign shortly before the Chronicle story published. Major endorsers began rescinding or pausing their support. And a pro-Swalwell independent expenditure committee said it was suspending operations.
Swalwell's two campaign co-chairs, Reps. Jimmy Gomez and Adam Gray, called on Swalwell to drop out — a stunning rebuke from key surrogates who had helped introduce Swalwell to power players in Sacramento, where both served in the state Assembly.
"Today I learned shocking information about Eric Swalwell containing the ugliest and most serious accusations imaginable," Gomez said in a statement. "My involvement in any campaign begins and ends with trust. I cannot in good conscience remain in any role with this campaign, and I am stepping down from it effective immediately."
California Sen. Adam Schiff, who along with Gomez had made calls pitching Swalwell to key labor unions, also called on Swalwell to leave the race, as did fellow California Sen. Alex Padilla, who is neutral in the governor's race.
Also abandoning Swalwell was Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego, who said he was withdrawing his endorsement and expressed regret for defending Swalwell in recent days.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for an investigation and said she spoke to Swalwell about leaving the race.
"As I discussed with Congressman Swalwell, it is clear that is best done outside of a gubernatorial campaign," she said in a statement.
The fallout extended to prominent interest groups that had backed Swalwell. The California Medical Association, which was Swalwell's first major endorser among Sacramento interest groups, said it was convening an emergency board meeting.
An independent expenditure committee funded by CMA was also put on ice.
"In light of serious allegations, the IE is suspending campaign activity immediately," said a spokesperson for Californians for a Fighter in support of Eric Swalwell. The committee had been also financed by Uber and former gubernatorial candidate and Swalwell ally Stephen J. Cloobeck, among others.
Major labor groups were left reeling as well. The California Teachers Association paused its endorsement, as did SEIU California.
"The allegations are incredibly disturbing and unacceptable against Rep. Swalwell. We are immediately suspending our support," CTA President David Goldberg said in a statement.
California Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks stopped short of calling for Swalwell to drop out, but he hinted at the possibility in a statement calling the allegations "deeply disturbing" and reiterating his previous calls for non-viable Democrats to leave the race — insinuating Swalwell has ceased to be a tenable option.
"My call for all — repeat, all — candidates for Governor to 'honestly assess the viability of their candidacy and campaign' still stands," Hicks said. "In fact, that call is more important now than ever before."
A campaign spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment Friday about the campaign staff departures, but Swalwell released a statement broadly denying the allegations.
"These allegations are false and come on the eve of an election against the frontrunner for governor," it said. "For nearly 20 years, I have served the public — as a prosecutor and a congressman and have always protected women. I will defend myself with the facts and where necessary bring legal action. My focus in the coming days is to be with my wife and children and defend our decades of service against these lies."
Members of senior leadership abruptly departed the campaign, including Courtni Pugh, a strategic adviser who served as Swalwell's top liaison to organized labor groups.
Pugh confirmed her resignation, but declined to comment further. Two other people, who were granted anonymity to discuss internal campaign dynamics, confirmed there have been at least four departures.
Multiple Democrats running for governor called on Swalwell both to exit the race and to resign from Congress — including former Rep. Katie Porter and billionaire Tom Steyer, who have consistently been the top-polling Democrats along with Swalwell and could benefit from his departure.
Swalwell for weeks had shown signs of consolidating support in a muddled Democratic field — but the emergence of damaging allegations promised to throw the already-fluid race into turmoil.
Just a few weeks ago, Swalwell's bid seemed to be gathering the kind of momentum that would have allowed him to pull ahead of a muddled Democratic field. He secured valuable endorsements from labor unions as deep-pocketed interests launched a super PAC for him.
And the Trump administration's reported push to release documents from an investigation into Swalwell's ties to a suspected Chinese operative appeared to play to the Democrat's advantage.
But soon after, accusations of inappropriate behavior with female staffers began to surface on social media. Swalwell forcefully disputed those allegations earlier this week through a spokesperson who assailed a "false, outrageous rumor."
"Some of the allegations I've seen, which is that we've had NDA's in the office — never. There's never been an allegation, and there's never been a settlement," Swalwell told reporters on Wednesday.
An attorney for Swalwell confirmed to POLITICO Friday that he had sent a cease-and-desist letter to at least one person accusing Swalwell of misconduct.
"We learned from press outlets that there are multiple allegations made against the Congressman," attorney Elias Dabaie said in an email. "We believe those allegations are baseless and continue to seek the truth. We also want to understand why these allegations would suddenly arise on the eve on an election against the frontrunner in what appears to be a coordinated effort to undermine his candidacy."
The following day, Swalwell abruptly canceled a planned town hall with Rep. Raul Ruiz, citing illness.
Anticipating a race-rewriting event, multiple of Swalwell's rivals have assailed him in recent days and accused him of hypocrisy given his past statements in support of the woman who accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault ahead of his confirmation hearing.
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I saw a long segment about this on CNN. It featured a woman who accused Swalwell of rape, and also with his lawyer.
I didnt find either of them entirely convincing. It seems like he had sex with staffers over the past few years, but he is going to claim it was consensual. I didnt find the woman who was on camera (face blacked out) 100% credible. I didnt find his lawyer credible, he was dodging all over the place.
Swalwell is toast either way.
Still amazes me that while politicians can be easily tarnished by mere allegations, Trump somehow can get away with far worse — even on proven acts and words.
And this is not just the Ds holding their politicians accountable; an R with allegations would be taken down too.
But somehow, Trump has amassed a cult that cannot even recognize the great harm he is doing.
This is madness.
Pete Hegseth was accused of rape and he is bombing Iran now. There is hypocrisy all over the place on this topic.
Hegseth was not elected. A very different path. And, arguably, he is under the inexplicable Trump cultish umbrella.
Before Trump, this kind of thing was usually fatal. Not always, of course. Bill Clinton and Clarence Thomas have done alright.
In this case, there are so many other options available for governor, that his campaign is probably done. He was basically the Democratic frontrunner, but needed to convince several other candidates to withdraw if he was going to get past the primary. Now, he will probably have to quit, and one of the others will pick up a bunch of support.
Agreed. Another way Trump has changed political expectations for the worse.
Assuming he is guilty of the allegations, I am pleased to see some level of character being demanded by voters and parties.
Who knows? Can a democrat candidate be defeated over charges of sexual impropriety in a blue state? Probably not, but Swalwell's open marriage lifestyle isn't really the problem for democrats. They have too many candidates in the Governor's race it might just leave the two Republicans in a face off for the Governor's seat. None of the other democrat candidates wants to drop out so maybe this little news about Swalwell was another hit job.
It's been proven that a republican candidate, your Dear Leader, could not be defeated over charges of sexual impropriety, including a judgement by a jury of sexual abuse, felony convictions, misappropriation of classified documents, attempting to overthrow an election, and a whole lot more, in any red state. In fact, it seems like the republicans in red states, and the republicans in blue states, too, admire him for all of it.
democrats remain fine with him serving in congress, but because their stupid primary laws make it possible for a republican to win the governorship, he can’t be allowed to split the vote. Hence the timing of the campaign, Couldn't have happened to a better guy…
As far as we know Trump has been just as believably accused, and you are fine with him being president.
Because he has his lawyer out there dodging questions for him I dont think Swalwell will survive this as a gubernatorial candidate, but I would have to see proof for him to be forced out of Congress.
And you are fine with him providing a reliable democratic vote in Congress, which makes yours and every other Democrat's hypocrisy over Trump plain to see. Like I've always said, the only Democrats actually have with Trump's conduct is the R that now resides after his name..
Swalwell will survive this as a gubernatorial candidate, but I would have to see proof for him to be forced out of Congress.
Of course, of course. And the "proof" will be sufficient t once his vote is no longer necessary and he can he be safely replaced by another Democrat. .
Which Democrats? Specifically.
Nancy Pelosi, top Dems urge Eric Swalwell to exit governor’s race after Chronicle report
Calls mount for California governor candidate Eric Swalwell to quit after multiple women accuse him of sexual assault – as it happened
Looks to me like Democrats are already coming after him.
Do you understand this news hit yesterday ? Has it even been 24 hours? Trump is in the Epstein files like a million times. His association with Epstein, and NUMEROUS other allegations, have been known for a long time and you elect him president anyway, and continue to support him. But you want to judge all Democrats on this guy after one fucking day?
Democrats have had more to say about Eric Swalwell in 24 hours than Republicans have had to say about Trump in 10 fucking years .
By the way, just a couple weeks ago, we got news about Cesar Chavez sexually assaulting women. If you didn't know, there is a national holiday for him on March 31. Within about a week, the California government changed the name of that holiday to Farmworkers Day.
No kidding. Read what I wrote. They want him to leave the governor's race. They need to clear that field of Democrats to ensure they can the primary. His prescnece hurts them.
His presence in Congress helps Democrats, thus the calls are to leave the Governor's race. .
How, specifically?
I have no idea what he is guilty of, if anything. I do find it interesting how fast people jumped ship. It is either because they know him and believe he may have done it or are thinking of strictly political reasons why he should go.
thinking of strictly political reasons why he should go.
They are only pressuring him to drop his campaign for governor because his candidacy makes a republican governor more likely. It’s 100% political. That he’s a grade a dirtbag isn’t new information to anyone.
Because his vote is needed in congress, he’s fine there no matter how many women he assaults or information he gives to foreign spies.
For what? Democrats don't have a majority - even a bare one. No Democrat vote is putting them into the majority on anything. That would be a concern for Republicans, not Democrats.
It is the narrowest majority in 50 years. Republicans cannot lose more than one or two votes on any issue and have rebels like Massie in their ranks. They don't vote as a cohesive unit like Democrats. Thus every vote matters, and Swalwell is a lock to vote as a partisan democrat.
It makes no difference. Every Democrat can vote the same way and they lose regardless. Your theory does not reflect the facts of the situation.
To have something go the Democrats’ way, a Republican would have to be lost.
And if Swalwell quit, he would just be replaced by another Democrat.
Of course it does. That democrats are telling him to stop running for an office he doesn't hold but are perfectly happy keeping him in office he does should be enough to you that.
Again, Republicans don't.
the Democrats’ way, a Republican would have to be lost.
Which happens all the time. See Massie. Fitzpatrick Kiley etc..
uit, he would just be replaced by another Democrat
The seat would sit vacant for months. You know House members aren't appointed, right?
In the last year, how many votes would have changed if one democrat had not voted?
And again, we heard all of this for the first time yesterday. It’s been one day. The governor race is actually an urgent matter because it’s ongoing. How many Democrats we have in the House is not. He may well get expelled from the House, but it has been one day. Give it a minute. It’s Saturday. They aren’t even in session.
Years of sexual misconduct from Trump and no calls from Republicans for him to leave. One DAY for this Democratic Representative and you’re all: why isn’t he being forced out immediately?
The democrats will now rally behind another domestic abuser after clearing the field of swalwell
Supporters of a 34 times convicted felon/adjudicated sexual abuser bitching and moaning and droning on about Swalwell is the height of hypocrisy. No surprise, though, since it's something they specialize in.
Cool. Let's see them.
Not looking real good for him -
I have no doubt he will be out of the race for governor within a few days, at the longest. I've never been particularly impressed by him.