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Rep. Eric Swalwell said he is suspending his campaign for California governor, citing personal issues and ongoing allegations in a statement posted on X.
“I am suspending my campaign for Governor,” Swalwell wrote. “To my family, staff, friends, and supporters, I am deeply sorry for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past.
“I will fight the serious, false allegations that have been made — but that’s my fight, not a campaign’s,” he added.
The decision comes as pressure mounted over sexual assault allegations published in a bombshell report from the San Francisco Chronicle on Friday, with lawmakers from both parties calling on him to drop out of the race and resign from Congress.
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Figures calling on Swalwell to step aside included former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
Pelosi urged that consideration of the accusations against Swalwell take place outside the context of his campaign.
“The young woman who has made serious allegations against Congressman Swalwell must be respected and heard. This extremely sensitive matter must be appropriately investigated with full transparency and accountability. As I discussed with Congressman Swalwell, it is clear that this is best done outside of a gubernatorial campaign,” Pelosi said in a statement given to NBC.
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A number of other Democrats soon joined the former speaker’s calls, with a handful rescinding previous endorsements of the campaign.
“I’ve read the San Francisco Chronicle’s reporting, and I take it seriously,” Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., said in a post to X.
“What is described is indefensible. Women who come forward with accounts like this deserve to be heard with respect, not questioned or dismissed,” he added.
Rep. Ted Lieu, who sits on the House Judiciary Committee, also said he would pull his endorsement.
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“In light of the recent allegations against Representative Eric Swalwell, I am withdrawing my endorsement of his campaign for Governor,” Lieu said in his own post.
In its Friday report, the San Francisco Chronicle detailed graphic accounts from a woman accusing Swalwell of pursuing intoxicated women, pressuring employees into intimate situations and asking for explicit images from female contacts.
Rumblings of misconduct from Swalwell first emerged earlier this month when Cheyenne Hunt, a former Capitol Hill staffer and a political media personality, began circulating testimony from women who said they had been sexually assaulted by the congressman.
“The Democratic candidate currently leading in the California governor’s race has a known history of being predatory towards women,” Hunt claimed in a post to social media.
Despite initially remaining moot on the allegations, Swalwell’s office broke its silence on the matter in comments made to the New York Post earlier this week.
“This false, outrageous rumor is being spread 27 days before an election begins by flailing opponents who have sadly teamed up with MAGA conspiracy theorists because they know Eric Swalwell is the frontrunner in this race,” Micah Beasley, a spokesperson for Swalwell, said.
With Swalwell exiting the race, the battle to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom becomes even more uncertain and turbulent ahead of the June 2 primary. Early voting will begin on May 4.
Public opinion surveys indicated that Swalwell was the top polling Democrat in the race, ahead of former Rep. Katie Porter and billionaire Tom Steyer, who’s flooded the airwaves with ads since declaring his candidacy in November. Both Porter and Steyer on Friday had called on Swalwell to suspend his gubernatorial campaign and resign from Congress.
The crowded field of Democrats also includes former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
There are two major Republicans in the race: conservative commentator and former Fox News host Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco.
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President Donald Trump endorsed Hilton last weekend, which appears to be boosting his support. But Trump’s backing wasn’t enough to put Hilton over the top this weekend at the California GOP annual convention. Neither Hilton or Bianco was able to top the 60% support of delegates threshold needed to earn the state party’s endorsement.
Democrats and Republicans appear on the same ballot in the June primary, with the top two finishers advancing to November’s general election.
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