Eric Swalwell? Really?
Though it’s still early in the gubernatorial race and a very large chunk of voters are undecided, the Bay Area Congressman’s position near the top of a very wide field of candidates is a curious one.
California faces a lot of challenges and the next governor should probably be someone with a shot of fixing at least one of them. A structural budget deficit, pervasive homelessness, a housing crisis, a struggling K-12 public education system, a struggling job market, an oppressive cost of living, an energy crisis and the ever present threat of wildfires and drought.
California desperately needs a leader, and while I’m not saying Swalwell can’t be one, I am saying that there’s really no evidence to suggest he will be.
Swalwell spent most of his time in Congress as a back bencher and didn’t really get much attention until he led one of the impeachment efforts against President Donald Trump in 2021.
Democrats apparently expect their elected officials to fight Trump at all costs, which is why Swalwell spends the first half of his campaign’s Issues page talking about how much he fights. Within that context, I can see why some Democratic base voters like him.
But Swalwell failed to get a conviction against Trump and Trump is still president – that’s not a very impressive fighting record.
As thin as that is, the rest of Swalwell’s accomplishments are even thinner. While on the Dublin City Council he pushed for permitting reform that helped the city grow to one of the wealthiest in the state. And while permitting reform is awesome and he should be commended for that, I suspect that Silicon Valley sprawl probably sparked the wealth boom more than the reform.
That’s one of his main talking points, and, again, it’s a good one. But he’s not really known for it. He’s better known for cozying up to a suspected Chinese spy.
No charges were ever filed against Swalwell in relation to the alleged spy, but there were rumors he was sleeping with her based largely on the fact that she slept with other politicians and his office didn’t deny it. But sex or no sex, the whole situation suggests poor judgment on his part.
Past that, he’s made a name for himself for skipping votes in Congress, which is really an integral part of the job, like a mailman delivers mail and a doctor sees patients.
In 2024, Swalwell ranked 29th in terms of votes missed. But over the past six or so months, Swalwell missed more than 100 votes. He was mocked by an opponent for missing more votes in 2025 than an Arizona Congressman who had died earlier that year.
Swalwell was also hit by the same opponent for not living outside the district – in Washington, D.C. Swalwell disputes the residency attack, but reporters were unable to find any Bay Area neighbors who had ever seen him before. Ironically, Swalwell defeated an incumbent to get elected to Congress in the first place, largely on the attack that his opponent was never in the district.
To recap: He is winless as an impeachment lawyer, was compromised by a spy, rarely shows up to work, possibly lives on the other side of the country and is a hypocrite. It’s hardly the mark of a leader.
What is it exactly that some voters see in him?
Swalwell went to the University of Maryland. That’s a compliment. I’m a Terrapin too and am willing to believe there’s a closet badass in there. After all, it seems like he was an OK city councilmember and he wouldn’t be the first person to go to Congress just to play a jerk on T.V. and social media.
It’s possible I’m being too negative, but Swalwell’s plans for fixing California are not convincing. His Issues page on his campaign website is like a greatest hits op-ed – it’s shorter than this column.
How will he fix California? First, by FIGHTING Trump. We know he’s serious because he bolded the text. That’s half the op-ed.
In all seriousness, far too many of California’s problems predate Trump and Trump will only overlap with the next governor for two years. This cannot be the defining issue of the campaign if we want to see anything improve.
Past that, Swalwell offers a smattering of buzzwords and cliches to convey what he’s thinking: “affordability over red tape,” “statewide housing emergency,” and “more money back in the pockets of working families.”
Those are nice sentiments, but the current guy said similar stuff and look where we are.
If the solution to California’s problems was more Democrats offering Big Government solutions, then things would be solved by now. Gov. Gavin Newsom and a Democratic supermajority in the Legislature have had ample opportunity to fix something.
Anything.
But they haven’t.
Look, some of the stuff Swalwell talks about is great: better forest management, a “main street tax holiday” (it’s not entirely clear how that would work but it’s a cool headline), cutting red tape, boosting housing production. It all sounds great, but it just seems unlikely he’ll deliver any of this.
I want to be optimistic because Newsom has done such a poor job, and I think Swalwell has some decent, and yet entirely vague, ideas and is a frontrunner right now. But when I put everything in context, my optimism fades.
Matt Fleming is an opinion columnist for the Southern California News Group. Follow him on X at @flemingwords or email him at flemingwords@gmail.com.