Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., makes his pitch to become the next California governor at the California Democratic Party state convention in San Francisco.
José Luis Villegas
TNS
Just when it appears Democrats could fumble their way into losing the June 2 gubernatorial primary to a pair of MAGA Republicans, an unlikely savior steps in.
FBI Director Kash Patel — with the blessing of President Donald Trump — is attempting to influence the election by launching a baseless attack against Rep. Eric Swalwell, who is among the three Democratic candidates in double digits.
Lucky Eric.
The smear campaign is likely to have the opposite effect. Given California’s aversion to Trump, landing on the president’s enemies list is a gift that no amount of campaign cash can buy. (Sorry, Tom Steyer.)
It’s a sure way to elevate a politician in the eyes of Democratic voters — just look at Adam Schiff, who rode his role as a Trump impeachment prosecutor all the way to the U.S. Senate.
Fang Fang is back in the picture
To discredit Swalwell, Patel is attempting to revive a decade-old investigation into ties between the East Bay congressman and suspected Chinese spy Christine Fang, also known as Fang Fang.
As first reported by The Washington Post, years ago the FBI looked into political relationships Fang had cultivated with California officials, including Swalwell. When the FBI relayed its suspicions to Swalwell, he cut ties with Fang,
The case was closed — until now, when Patel ordered San Francisco FBI agents to reopen investigative files for possible release There was even talk of sending agents to China to re-interview Fang Fang.
The whole enterprise is shady and destined to backfire, but in the meantime, Swalwell has been handed a starring role in the drama.
With enemies like Trump and Patel, who needs friends?
Once again, Trump fails to read the room
Swalwell was already enjoying a string of campaign successes.
He earned endorsements from Sen. Schiff and several big labor unions, including the California Teachers Association, the California Federation of Labor Unions and Service Employees International California. He came in first in the most recent Emerson College poll, and he received large donations from several PACs, including Uber Innovation.
And now there’s the White House smear campaign working to his benefit?
Honestly, either Trump & Co. are secretly rooting for Swalwell, or their failure to read the room — whether it’s California or Greenland or the Strait of Hormuz — has reached a terrifying low.
Naturally, Swalwell is rising to the occasion. His attorneys sent Patel a cease-and-desist letter demanding that he refrain from releasing any files from the Fang investigation.
In his campaign appearances, he is laying into Trump and Patel, accusing them of trying to interfere in California’s election — “to crush a campaign not with arguments, but with bruised, purple fists of power,” he said at a recent news conference in San Francisco.
All this is happening in these critical final few weeks before early voting begins, when Democratic candidates are still struggling to break out of the pack, the party is doing everything in its power to avoid being shutout of the November runoff and donors are trying to figure where to put their money. For Swalwell, it could not have come at a better time.
If he winds up making it to the runoff, there will be no way to prove that Trump’s meddling tipped the scale, but there will no way to disprove it, either.
If he does win, Swalwell should do the polite thing and send Trump a thank-you gift. I hear he really likes Florsheims. And don’t worry, the size doesn’t matter.
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Opinion Editor Stephanie Finucane is a native of San Luis Obispo County and a graduate of Cal Poly. Before joining The Tribune, she worked at the Santa Barbara News-Press and the Santa Maria Times.