Following in the footsteps of other presidential — and gubernatorial — hopefuls looking to boost their profiles with voters tuned into late-night TV, Rep. Eric Swalwell joined Jimmy Kimmel this week to announce he’s jumping into a crowded California governor’s race in which a clear front-runner has yet to emerge.
Swalwell, 45, whose 14th Congressional District encompasses parts of the East Bay, has earned a reputation as one of President Donald Trump’s biggest foes, building a brand on his searing criticism of the president. He served as an impeachment manager in 2021 following the Jan. 6 insurrection.
During his Thursday night guest spot on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” he leaned into those credentials as a “fighter and a protector” over the course of a career that has seen him serve as a prosecutor in Alameda County, a councilmember in the city of Dublin, and, in Congress, an adversary of the Republican standard-bearer he describes the “most corrupt president ever.”
“I’m ready to bring this fight home,” he said.
Swalwell has yet to announce a policy platform, but his message appears to boil down to two fundamental ideas: “prices are too high” and “people are scared.” In a video posted to social media on Thursday night, he said the next California governor needs to keep Trump “out of our homes, out of our streets and out of our lives.”
“California is the fourth largest economy in the world,” he said in the video. “So shouldn’t we be a state where you can take your first job, have your first kid and buy your first home in the same decade.”
Swalwell seeks to set himself apart from an increasingly crowded governor’s race of more than 10 candidates.
The Democratic field includes former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, former state Controller Betty Yee, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
Several Republicans are also in the race to lead one of the nation’s bluest states, including former Fox News commenter Steve Hilton, billionaire investor Tom Steyer and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco.
Dan Schnur, a professor of political communications at the University of California, Berkeley, previously told the Bay Area News Group that the race could be determined by how much Swalwell can frame himself as the most anti-Trump candidate. The East Bay representative recently said he is among the list of Democrats and former Republican allies now being targeted as political opponents and investigated by Trump’s Justice Department.
Opposition to the president appeared to resonate with Californians several weeks ago when voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 50 — a partisan redistricting measure meant to counteract gerrymandering in Texas as both parties battle for control of the House of Representatives in the upcoming 2026 midterms.
The saga has further fueled Gov. Gavin Newsom’s national profile, with the governor receiving widespread praise for going head-to-head with Trump while the Democratic Party is still somewhat struggling to find its footing. Newsom has termed out and cannot run again for governor.
“For Swalwell, tapping into that same anti-Trump sentiment makes good strategic sense,” Schnur said.
The congress member’s focus on affordability could also resonate with California voters who are reeling from the state’s high cost of living. Affordability appeared to be a winning message for Democrats across the country in November’s election as it propelled Zohran Mamdani, running from the party’s left flank, to New York City mayor and Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill to governorships in Virginia and New Jersey.
Swallwell’s opponents were quick to react to the news of him jumping into the race. Yee, commenting on both Swalwell and Steyer’s candidacies — the San Francisco philanthropist jumped into the fray on Wednesday — called them “two failed presidential candidates.”
“Welcome back to the Golden State, gentlemen,” she said in a statement. “Look forward to seeing you on the trail.”
Bianco, one of the Republicans in the race, also drilled into Swalwell’s unsuccessful bid for president in 2020, describing him as a “total failure.”
“Even as a member of Congress, his main claim to fame was getting caught up in a Chinese spy ring, which precluded him from serving on the House Intelligence Committee,” Bianco said. “Californians need a governor who has the credibility and integrity to save our state from the Newsom years, and that is not Swalwell.”
Porter, who had initally appeared to be the front-runner, has seen her poll numbers drop in the wake of a tense CBS interview that she threatened to walk out of and a leaked 2021 video in which she berated a staffer, sent out a fundraising email Friday morning capitalizing on the new blood in the race.
“The race for California governor is crowded—and it keeps growing—but there’s one candidate who stands out from the pack: Katie Porter,” the email said.
Kimmel boasts the largest audience of TV’s late-night hosts with 1.8 million viewers nightly. He got a ratings bump after being suspended from prime time in July by ABC and its parent company Disney following comments the host made about the killing of conservative political commentator Charlie Kirk. His removal from the airwaves turned into a national referendum on the federal government’s censorship power.
Swalwell’s announcement echoed iconic moments where candidacies and television collided, like Bill Clinton’s 1992 appearance on “The Arsenio Hall Show” where he wore sunglasses and played the sax — and famously scored cool points with young voters in his successful presidential — and, even more to the point, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s launch of his campaign for governor of California on “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno in 2003.