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Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-California) is suspending his campaign for California governor two days after reports that a former staffer accused him of sexual assault and multiple other women alleged sexual misconduct. “I am suspending my campaign for Governor,” Swalwell wrote on X on Sunday evening. “To my family, staff, friends, and supporters, I am deeply sorry for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past.” Swalwell continued to deny allegations of sexual assault against him. “I will fight the serious, false allegations that have been made - but that’s my fight, not a campaign’s,” Swalwell wrote. Swalwell’s abrupt exit from the California governor’s race marks a remarkable downfall for the long-time congressman, who was considered a leading candidate. The fallout from reports of sexual assault and misconduct continued as pressure mounted for Swalwell to also vacate his congressional seat. Rusty Hicks, chair of the California Democratic Party, called him “unqualified and unfit to seek or hold public office in California” in a statement released after the announcement. Several lawmakers on both sides of the aisle said they would support a motion to expel Swalwell from Congress, after Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Florida) promised to force such a vote this week. Luna added she would try to pair that resolution with one that would also expel Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), who is being investigated by the House Ethics Committee for having an affair with a staff member who later set herself on fire and died. Swalwell has denied the allegations as false and suggested they are politically motivated. Gonzales dropped his bid for re-election last month after acknowledging the affair and saying he “had absolutely nothing to do with her tragic passing” but has said he will serve out the rest of his term, despite calls from GOP leaders to resign. Reps. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-New Mexico), Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington), Ro Khanna (D-California) and Jared Huffman (D-California) were among the Democrats who publicly emerged this weekend to say they would vote to expel Swalwell along with Gonzales. “This is not a partisan issue,” Jayapal said on NBC’s Meet the Press, adding that it was important to send a message to staffers on Capitol Hill that their bosses cannot treat them in the ways Swalwell and Gonzales were alleged to have done. “Men in power rely on the silence of the women they have abused,” Fernández, chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, said in a statement. “Both Reps. Tony Gonzales and Eric Swalwell believed it was acceptable to sexually abuse staff and still run for and serve in elected office. They clearly did not expect there would be any consequences for their actions.” A two-thirds majority vote is required to expel a member from Congress. The possibility of losing his congressional seat adds to the remarkably swift downfall of Swalwell, who less than two days ago had been considered a leading candidate in the California governor’s race to succeed term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). In an article, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that a former employee in Swalwell’s congressional office accused him of sexual assault. Hours later, CNN reported that three women alleged sexual misconduct. Within hours, Swalwell lost his campaign chair and co-chair and the endorsements of nearly all his major Democratic supporters. His senior campaign and congressional staff issued a joint statement repudiating Swalwell’s alleged behavior, and the Manhattan district attorney’s office confirmed it had opened an investigation into a sexual assault accusation of a former staff member. On Sunday, more than 50 former Swalwell staffers issued a letter urging him to end his campaign and resign from Congress. Ally Sammarco, now a Democratic strategist, told the Washington Post that in August 2021 she sent Swalwell a direct message on Twitter to talk about having grown up with Republican parents. Sammarco was 24 and just starting her career then...
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