{"id":265242,"date":"2026-04-13T07:48:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T07:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/265242\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T07:48:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T07:48:06","slug":"why-eric-swalwell-was-forced-to-quit-california-governors-race-after-sexual-misconduct-allegations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/265242\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Eric Swalwell was forced to quit California governor\u2019s race after sexual misconduct allegations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eric Swalwell was so close to becoming California\u2019s governor<\/a> that he was practically measuring the drapes.<\/p>\n

And then, suddenly, it all came crashing down, thanks to his own egregious conduct.<\/p>\n

Last night, after desperately trying to hang on, Swalwell suspended his campaign. He was delusional if he thought he could keep running. He finally faced the inevitable music.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Democratic congressman<\/a> didn\u2019t have much choice. His own party, led by Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Adam Schiff and Speaker Hakeem Jeffries, was demanding that he drop out of the race.\u00a0<\/p>\n

SWALWELL FACES EXPULSION EFFORT FOLLOWING BOMBSHELL ASSAULT ALLEGATIONS<\/a><\/p>\n

He was denying many of the specifics when it came to sexually abusing women on his staff, but his candidacy was clearly toast. His campaign chairman immediately resigned. The state teachers\u2019 union withdrew its support. The service employees\u2019 union suspended its campaign activities.<\/p>\n

In a video Friday night, Swalwell seemed to soften his denials:<\/p>\n

\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

Nobody\u2019s buying that. When you\u2019re a public figure with three children, it\u2019s not just between you and your spouse. It\u2019s also between you and the voters.<\/p>\n

SWALWELL ATTORNEY DENIES MISCONDUCT, SAYS CONGRESSMAN TOOK ACCOUNTABILITY FOR \u2018LAPSES IN JUDGMENT\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Why, knowing of the intense scrutiny a gubernatorial candidate faces, would Swalwell allegedly engage in sex with staffers, given the stark power imbalance between a member of Congress and starstruck young women?<\/p>\n

When Swalwell says all this emerged to torpedo his frontrunner campaign \u2013 \u201cthese allegations are false\u201d \u2013 he is probably right. But he put the target on his own back.<\/p>\n

Actually, a bandwagon running on four flat tires may be the least of the candidate\u2019s problems. The Manhattan district attorney\u2019s office<\/a> confirms that it has opened an investigation into some of the allegations, and openly invited \u201csurvivors and anyone with knowledge of these allegations\u201d to get in touch with its special victims unit. \u00a0<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, both House and campaign staffers for Swalwell gave news outlets an unsigned letter saying they\u2019re \u201chorrified\u201d by the allegations, calling them \u201cabhorrent, beneath the dignity of those serving in public office,\u201d which \u201cbetrays the trust of all Californians.\u201d And one Republican representative, Anna Paulina Luna, is pushing for the House to expel him.<\/p>\n

The media have clearly been driving the disclosures about the congressman, who represents the San Francisco area. One of the other two major Democratic candidates \u2013 former congresswoman Katie Porter or billionaire Tom Steyer \u2013 will inherit the frontrunner\u2019s mantle.<\/p>\n

In California\u2019s \u201cjungle primary,\u201d the top two finishers make it to the fall ballot, regardless of party. President Trump has already endorsed former British politician and Fox News host Steve Hilton. But in the bluest of blue states, the Democratic candidate is virtually assured of winning.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

SWALWELL CALLS SEXUAL MISCONDUCT ALLEGATIONS \u2018FLAT OUT FALSE,\u2019 SAYS HE WILL FIGHT THEM \u2018WITH EVERYTHING\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

The San Francisco Chronicle<\/a> conducted a series of interviews with a woman who said Swalwell had assaulted her twice when she was too drunk to consent, including one encounter when he was her boss.<\/p>\n

The woman did not report the alleged assaults because she didn\u2019t think she\u2019d be believed, according to the Chronicle, which viewed texts that she sent to a friend at the time, and medical records showing she sought pregnancy and STD testing days after the alleged 2024 assault.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

CNN also reported on this woman, along with three others who accused Swalwell of various kinds of sexual misconduct. The woman was shown in shadow to protect her identity, and said she felt comfortable meeting Swalwell \u2013 after a 2019 drunken encounter \u2013 because she now had a partner and felt more confident:<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter that bar closed, we went to another, I went to the bathroom, and I don\u2019t remember anything after that\u2026 I remember the next day, I can see flashes of that evening of him on top of me, me pushing him off, him grabbing me. It was a lot more aggressive. It was aggressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you say no?\u201d asked anchor Pamela Brown.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes. I said no. I said I \u2014 in my flash that I can recall, I was pushing him off of me saying no.\u201d<\/p>\n

What did he do?<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

The unidentified woman said that in 2019, when she was still working for Swalwell, she woke up naked with him in a hotel room after a night of heavy drinking. She said she had no memory of what happened but could feel physically that they\u2019d had sexual contact.<\/p>\n

CNN reported that three other women said Swalwell sent them unsolicited explicit messages or nude photos.<\/p>\n

The New York Times<\/a> interviewed a social media influencer named in the CNN report, Ally Sammarco, who said the congressman sent her inappropriate messages on Snapchat in 2021. Snapchat content is programmed to disappear after a short period of time.<\/p>\n

Sammarco, now 28, told the paper that Swalwell told her she was attractive and asked about alcohol.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of it was like photos of him going on trips, on airplanes, in hotels, him laying in bed, and then like things like, \u2018What would you do if I was, like, with you\u2019 or, like, \u2018Wish you were here,\u2019\u201d Sammarco told the paper, adding that he also sent an unsolicited photo of his penis.<\/p>\n

PELOSI, CALIFORNIA DEMS SLAM SWALWELL OVER BOMBSHELL SEXUAL ASSAULT ALLEGATIONS: \u2018INDEFENSIBLE\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt made me feel gross and uncomfortable. I didn\u2019t ask for that,\u201d Sammarco is quoted as saying. While posting pictures of the birth of his third baby, she says, he was messaging her: \u201cWhen am I going to see you?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sammarco says she finally stopped responding after realizing the congressman wasn\u2019t going to help her find a job.<\/p>\n

Politico, meanwhile<\/a>, reports that a former Swalwell employee, upon leaving his office, signed an agreement that required confidentiality and non-disparagement.\u00a0 This was related to workplace discrimination, not sexual harassment. A spokesman had denied that the office had used any NDAs.<\/p>\n

A Swalwell attorney sent letters to two of the women cited by CNN, demanding they retract their statements or face possible legal action.<\/p>\n

These letters said the women\u2019s claims were \u201cundermined\u201d by their \u201cvoluntary and cooperative relationship with Mr. Swalwell over the course of many years,\u201d including the former staffer asking him for job references.<\/p>\n

I guess those letters are now moot. You think?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Had the allegations been made by just one woman, it would have been easier for the candidate to dismiss. It\u2019s not like sexual accusations haven\u2019t been made against Trump and the term-limited governor and 2028 contender Gavin Newsom<\/a>, which he has admitted.<\/p>\n

Even a close personal friend of Swalwell, Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego, pulled his endorsement, calling the conduct \u201cindefensible.\u201d<\/p>\n

SUBSCRIBE TO HOWIE\u2019S MEDIA BUZZMETER PODCAST, A RIFF ON THE DAY\u2019S HOTTEST STORIES<\/a><\/p>\n

Eric Swalwell showed no sensitivity to the intimidation factor involving young female staffers. The overall pattern, according to their allegations, is the same.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hardly surprising that his party wanted Swalwell immediately booted from the race. Instead of heading to Sacramento, he wiped out his political career.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eric Swalwell was so close to becoming California\u2019s governor that he was practically measuring the drapes. And then,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265243,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-265242","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-headlines","10":"tag-california-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265242","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=265242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}