Rep. Eric Swalwell dropped his California governor’s campaign Sunday night, roughly 48 hours after the San Francisco Chronicle and CNN published sexual misconduct allegations from four women, one of them a former staffer who said he assaulted her on two separate occasions.
The Chronicle broke the story Friday. That former staffer, whose identity wasn’t published, alleged Swalwell solicited oral sex from her while she was on his payroll, and that he assaulted her twice when she was too intoxicated to consent. The most recent incident she described occurred in New York in 2024. Medical records and corroborating witnesses backed her account, the Chronicle reported.
Later that Friday, CNN published its own story, which included her account and testimony from three other women. One alleged Swalwell kissed and touched her without consent. Two others said he sent them unsolicited nude images and inappropriate messages through Snapchat.
The campaign didn’t survive the weekend.
Major unions that had backed Swalwell pulled their endorsements Friday and convened emergency meetings over the following days to make those withdrawals formal. Congressional Democratic leaders publicly called on him to step aside. Staffers resigned or put distance between themselves and the campaign. What had been one of the more credible bids for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination fell apart in hours.
Swalwell’s attorney, Elias Dabaie, went on CNN that Friday insisting his client wasn’t going anywhere. Swalwell posted a video to Instagram calling the allegations “completely false.” Neither statement held.
By Sunday night, the position had reversed entirely.
He released a statement on social media apologizing to his “family, staff, friends and supporters,” as CalMatters reported. The statement read: “I deeply regret the errors in judgment I have made in the past. I will fight my case against the serious and false accusations that have been leveled, but that is my fight, not a campaign’s.”
That’s not an admission of the specific conduct described. It’s also not a full denial. He didn’t retract his Friday video calling the accusations false, but he acknowledged enough personal failure to explain why he couldn’t continue asking Californians to vote for him.
There’s a logistical wrinkle. Because Swalwell suspended after California’s filing deadline, his name won’t come off the ballot. Votes cast for him on June 2 will count, officially, but they won’t push a campaign that’s no longer running. It’s a dead end on a printed ballot.
Manhattan prosecutors announced they’re investigating the alleged 2024 assault. That’s a separate track from whatever civil exposure or political consequences Swalwell faces going forward. No charges have been filed as of this writing.
The pressure isn’t limited to the governor’s race. Colleagues inside the party are calling on Swalwell to give up his congressional seat too. He’s held that seat since 2013, representing East Bay communities east of San Francisco. He entered the governor’s race in 2026 as a well-known figure in Democratic circles, someone who had built a national profile during the 2020 presidential primary and the years of congressional work that followed. Whether he resigns from Congress isn’t settled, but the calls are coming from inside the party and they’re not quiet.
The Chronicle’s reporting landed on Friday and the campaign was done by Sunday. That’s a fast collapse even by the standards of political crisis, and it reflects how little room Swalwell had to maneuver once four accusers were on the record and the corroboration was in print.
“I deeply regret the errors in judgment I have made in the past,” Swalwell said in his Sunday statement, the same one in which he announced the suspension.
He’s still a congressman. He’s still named on a primary ballot that prints on June 2. And the Manhattan DA’s office is still looking at the 2024 allegation. What comes next on any of those fronts depends on decisions he hasn’t made public yet.