{"id":262934,"date":"2026-04-11T18:47:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T18:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/262934\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T18:47:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T18:47:08","slug":"swalwell-sexual-assault-accusations-detonate-california-governors-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/262934\/","title":{"rendered":"Swalwell sexual assault accusations detonate California governor\u2019s race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is it Swal-over for Swalwell? Congressman Eric Swalwell \u2013 the longtime anti-Trump crusader, MS Now and CNN mainstay, and a leading candidate in the California gubernatorial race \u2013 has now been accused by an anonymous ex-staffer of sexual assault. The allegations,\u00a0published by the San Francisco Chronicle<\/a>, turn mainly on inebriation and the so-called power imbalance between the two:<\/p>\n

Driving him to another event weeks later, she said Swalwell pulled out his penis in the car and asked her to perform oral sex on him. She said she did so in a parking lot.<\/p>\n

In September 2019, the woman said, Swalwell invited her out for drinks and she became so severely intoxicated that she does not remember the rest of the night. She said she woke up naked in Swalwell\u2019s hotel bed and could feel the effect of vaginal intercourse. She said Swalwell distanced himself from her afterward and the relationship faded.<\/p>\n

The accuser has chosen to remain anonymous and has not announced any intention to press charges.\u00a0Three other women<\/a>\u00a0have since told CNN that the congressman had sent them unsolicited lewd messages and nude pictures. <\/p>\n

Swalwell has denied the accusations.\u00a0\u201cThey are absolutely false. They did not happen. They have never happened,\u201d he said in a statement<\/a>. Though, oddly enough, the Congressman also chose to apologize to his wife for unspecified past mistakes: \u201cI do not suggest to you in any way that I\u2019m perfect or that I\u2019m a saint. I have certainly made mistakes in judgment in my past. But those mistakes are between me and my wife, and to her I apologize deeply for putting her in this position.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reaction from the party has been swift. Senator Adam Schiff \u2013 a key ally \u2013 has called for Swalwell to end his campaign and has said that he regrets endorsing him. So has Hakeem Jeffries. Swalwell\u2019s Democratic rival for the nomination Katie Porter \u2013 best known<\/a>\u00a0for dressing up as Batgirl to the House vote on Trump\u2019s impeachment in 2019 and for scalding his now-ex-husband with boiling potatoes \u2013 posted on X that: \u201cThe allegations against Congressman Swalwell are horrifying. I\u2019m thinking of the courageous women who have come forward to share their stories. We believe you and we stand with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nancy Pelosi, still\u00a0an\u00a0eminence grise within her party, said allusively that \u201cit is clear that [the investigation into these accusations] is best done outside of a gubernatorial campaign.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The events of the last 24 hours have chiefly served to benefit another candidate for the office: the slightly guileless figure of Tom Steyer (remember him?) a billionaire who sought the Democratic presidential nomination back in 2020. Steyer\u2019s odds of winning the race\u00a0have rocketed<\/a>\u00a0to 52 percent, according to the betting website Kalshi.\u00a0<\/p>\n

California\u2019s \u201cjungle primary\u201d format\u00a0was always going to make the search for Gavin Newsom\u2019s replacement a wild ride. Candidates of all parties run against each other to reach a two-person runoff round. Given that the Democratic field was so crowded with candidates, this meant that there was briefly a prospect of the two finalists for the governor\u2019s mansion both being GOP candidates \u2013 Chad Bianco and Steve Hilton (who\u00a0The Spectator\u00a0has profiled<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna<\/a>, a Republican, has announced that she is going to table a motion to expel Swalwell from the House. Luna\u00a0also supports the\u00a0ongoing initiative to expel her GOP colleague Tony Gonzales, who is the subject of a House investigation over accusations of sexual misconduct<\/a>. Such a measure requires a two thirds majority to pass, but in any case Swalwell\u2019s candidacy is effectively over.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0sudden\u00a0and brutal end to Swalwell\u2019s career, then. Can he complain about the manner of his fall? Swalwell has\u00a0spoken out<\/a>\u00a0against any reform to Title IX, a provision of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 that has seen male students at colleges expelled due to accusations of sexual impropriety with almost no due process. Live by the sword\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Is it Swal-over for Swalwell? Congressman Eric Swalwell \u2013 the longtime anti-Trump crusader, MS Now and CNN mainstay,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262935,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[115432,7,9,8,1751,24115,98404,2531],"class_list":["post-262934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-metoo-movement","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-democrats","tag-eric-swalwell","tag-metoo","tag-sexual-assault"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}