Swalwell To Resign From Congress

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) announced on Monday he is resigning from Congress, a day after sexual assault and misconduct allegations forced him to withdraw from the California governor race.

“I am deeply sorry to my family, staff and constituents for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past,” Swalwell said in a statement shared online. “I will fight the serious, false allegation made against me. However, I must take responsibility and ownership for the past mistakes I did make.”

He did not indicate when his resignation would take effect.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported on Friday an ex-staffer accused Swalwell of sexually assaulting her. A CNN report later that day revealed four women who accused Swalwell of sexual misconduct, including a former staffer who said he raped her. POLITICO has not independently verified the accusations.

The allegations led Democratic allies and staff members to abandon Swalwell en masse, leading to him suspending his gubernatorial campaign on Sunday.

Swalwell’s exit concluded a swift fall for the seven-term Democrat. After defeating longtime incumbent Democratic Rep. Pete Stark in 2012, Swalwell rose to prominence during the first Trump administration as an unapologetic Democratic combatant. He parlayed that profile into cable news ubiquity and a short-lived presidential bid in 2020.

Late last year, he turned his attention to Sacramento and entered the crowded field of Democrats vying to succeed the term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom. In recent weeks he had begun to consolidate support from California’s political establishment, winning over members of Congress and prominent interest groups like labor unions.

But his career imploded late last week. Even after Swalwell halted his governor campaign, a growing number of congressional colleagues pressed him to forfeit his seat.

Swalwell’s decision to resign came amid an escalating battle over member ethics in the closely divided chamber, one that had top House leaders looking to defuse the situation.

The accusations against Swalwell have prompted lawmakers in both parties to call for his resignation and expulsion. But many also said Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), who admitted earlier this year to an affair with a staffer and announced last month he would not pursue re-election, should be subject to the same consequences.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), who had pushed for Swalwell’s expulsion before his resignation announcement, said afterward in a text message that she still thought Gonzales “should resign” or be expelled.

Neither Speaker Mike Johnson nor Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries went so far in public statements, however. The House Ethics Committee’s announcement Monday that it was starting to look into the Swalwell matter could have offered the Californian some immediate breathing room as members deferred to the investigation. But it also meant Swalwell faced the likelihood of defending against a long and costly probe while simultaneously dealing with at leastone known criminal investigation.

A two-thirds majority is needed to expel a House member, something that has happened only six times in U.S. history — most recently with Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) in 2023.

Both Johnson and Jeffries have called for due process in the handling of ethics complaints against other members in recent months, and some Democrats spoke out in recent days saying they were uncomfortable moving against Swalwell, who called the assault charge “flat false” in a Friday statement, without some sort of review process. The Ethics Committee issued an investigative report on Santos before he was expelled.

“I’ll have to see evidence before I vote to expel,” Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said in a CNN interview Monday. “You know, the allegations are incredibly serious, but I’ve got to look at it very closely because expelling a member of Congress is a big move.”

Swalwell said in his Monday statement the effort to expel him “without due process, within days of an allegation being made, is wrong.”

The race to succeed Swalwell was already underway before his campaign imploded. Contenders to fill his solidly blue Bay Area seat included state Sen. Aisha Wahab and Bay Area Rapid Transit board president Melissa Hernandez. The election's winner, regardless of whether there’s a special or the seat remains vacant until the November midterms, would not be seated until early next year.

Newsom's office said the governor is reviewing the next steps to call for a special election to fill the seat in the interim, as state law allows.

Meredith Lee Hill, Riley Rogerson and Hailey Fuchs contributed to this report.