S1: Welcome in San Diego , it's Jade Hindman. On today's show , we'll dig into the impact of sexual assault allegations against Democrat Eric Swalwell after his resignation from Congress. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. California's already wide open race for governor faces new uncertainty after one of the leading candidates has dropped out of the race. Democrat Eric Swalwell suspended his campaign this weekend after multiple allegations of sexual assault and misconduct were made public. He has since announced his resignation from Congress as well , though he's denied the allegations against him. But what does it all mean for the race , for governor and for our politics ? I'm joined now by Jeanie Kwong , capital reporter with Cal Matters. Jeannie , welcome back to midday.
S2: Thanks for having me.
S1: Glad to have you here. So I'm sure you have been busy , but what can you tell us about the allegations made against Swalwell ? Yeah.
S2: So the first allegation is that one of his former staffers has accused him of , on multiple occasions , sexually assaulting her when she was too drunk to consent. One time was when she was working for him , and one time was a few years later at a at an event that they both attended. Um , now , that woman came forward in a San Francisco Chronicle report , as well as to CNN , which then also reported allegations of misconduct from three other women , um , some of whom alleged that they that she got drunk and ended up in his hotel room without remembering how she got there. And two women alleged that he had texted them inappropriately or sent inappropriate messages , including unsolicited nude photos. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. Now , Swalwell has announced his resignation from Congress. Um , so what happens to his seat in Congress ? Yeah.
S2: So he hasn't actually left it yet. And when he does , uh , the governor will have to determine if he's going to call a special election for that seat or not to fill it. Um , you know , he's also running for governor. And so there were already many people who had filed to run for his seat later this year. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. So , I mean , he's made this move. He's resigned from Congress. Um , stopped his his bid for governor. Uh , what has he said about the allegations made against him ? Yeah.
S3: So last week , when.
S2: These allegations were mostly surfacing as rumors Online. He just sort of blanket denied everything and actually told reporters at a town hall last Tuesday that he had never had a sexual encounter with anybody who worked with him before. Now , a few days later , the Chronicle report comes out in which the former staffer alleges assault and he's still denying all of these allegations , says they're false , says he's going to fight them. At times , he's alluded to bringing legal action , or his lawyers have alluded to that , but he hasn't addressed any of them with any sort of specificity , and instead says that he just needs to fight the allegations while , you know , not running for governor or not being in Congress anymore.
S1: He was married at the time of these allegations , some of them. Right ? Yes.
S2: That's correct. And he still is married and has kids.
S1: You know , as we are we're talking I'm looking at breaking news where Senator Gallego says he feels betrayed by Representative Swalwell.
S2: Hmm.
S1: Hmm.
S2: I mean , he was often polling in the lead amongst Democrats and often tied with the two other top Democrats , Tom Steyer and Katie Porter. And all three of them were either tied or trailing just slightly behind the top two Republicans in the race. Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco. And so Swalwell , while not particularly well known in Sacramento , was considered one of the people who could really , you know , pull through and make sure that a Democrat made it to the general election. As you may know , there have been so many Democrats in the race that there's been a lot of anxieties amongst the Democratic Party that , um , two Republicans could make it on the , you know , get the top two number of votes in the June primary and make it to November and shut out Democrats. So because he was polling at or near the top , he was sort of seen as somebody who could , you know , at least just ensure that a Democrat made it to November. Um , and so that's kind of , I think , how most people viewed his candidacy. He , uh , had more name recognition than many of the other candidates simply because as a member of Congress and somebody who chaired the second Trump impeachment in 2021 , He was somebody who appeared on cable news a lot , you know , had a lot of anti-Trump talking points on , on TV and online , and that got him a lot of attention. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And as you've said , I mean , during his candidacy for governor , he had amassed a number of endorsements from several Democratic leaders.
S2: Um , he had the support of major labor unions , which are big power players here in Sacramento. He had the SEIU , the California Teachers Association behind him , the California Professional Firefighters. These are all important organizations to get the endorsement of because they put money into helping elect you. And they also provide a lot of that ground game. The volunteers , the door knockers , you know , the canvassers. And so , you know , in the wake of those reports being made public on Friday. A lot of these organizations scrambled to hold emergency meetings over the weekend to rescind their endorsements. Hmm.
S1: Hmm.
S2: I mean , I think , you know , it is , uh , conventional wisdom would indicate that because he is one fewer Democrat in the race that , you know , this will help the Democrats secure getting somebody , um , that this will help one other candidate get enough votes to make it to November. Um , but it's not clear who exactly will benefit. I think Katie Porter and Tom Steyer , as the other two top polling Democrats , would definitely stand to benefit and get some of his supporters going to them instead. Um , but a lot of these other organizations that now might have to make a new endorsement. It's not clear how long that will take them or if they will do it again. You know , they clearly have been burned before. Um , and then also Matt Mahan , the San Jose mayor , he has a lot of big tech money behind him , and they all started pouring in a lot more money to help him in the wake of these reports. So that indicates that his supporters think that Matt Mahan has a chance now or has an opening. So we'll just have to see.
S1: Yeah , that'll be interesting. Well , I mean , this is a crowded race , particularly on the Democratic side. Are there any Democrats who were not getting a lot of attention in the polls ? That may be getting a closer look from voters at this point ? You mentioned , you know , San Jose mayor , uh , anyone else ? Yeah.
S2: So while the other people in the race are former state Attorney General Javier Becerra , um , he's kind of gotten a lot of online attention from , like influencers and those kinds of people who who post about politics activists. Those people have started giving him a lot of attention. I'm not sure if that's coordinated , but that's definitely interesting. Um , and , you know , the other people in the race include Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and former State Comptroller Betty Yee and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. I think I got all of them. Um , so , yeah , they've all been kind of polling , you know , 5% or even less. And so I definitely think everyone thinks now is their chance to make themselves known to voters. Um , but you know , that that also takes money and , uh , it takes staff , and not all of them have that. Yeah.
S1: Yeah.
S2: Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Do you think that that will his previous runs will benefit him anyway and this go around or.
S2: You know , I mean he definitely has the experience and he has you know , before he was mayor of Los Angeles , he was a speaker of the state assembly in the 90s. Like , he definitely has the experience. He's he's a known person in these political circles. Um , I do think he's been kind of quote unquote out of the game for a while. And I , I think that might that might be a point against him in terms of , you know , being able to have your campaign catch fire that way. Right.
S1: Right. Well , you know , hey , ballots for this year's primary are due to go out in just a couple of weeks. So will Swalwell name actually still be on the ballots or what ? Yeah.
S2: Great question. It actually will still be on the ballot. Um , he dropped out , you know , after a statutory deadline in state law to officially file or withdraw from an election. And so he had filed and his name's going to be on the ballot. And we're you know , I expect that he will still get some number of votes just from people who might not know what's going on. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. One important way for voters to get to know the candidates is through debates.
S2: Um , and there was some concerns about the diversity of candidates who were included based off of polling numbers and fundraising , but they ended up canceling the debate over that instead of kind of dealing with the controversy. And so there is a debate scheduled next Wednesday , and then there's going to be another one the week after. So I do think , you know , people are gonna start being able to hear more from like a wide range of candidates and start to make their choices. But it is. I mean , everyone I've spoken with says they've never seen anything like this before. They've never seen a governor's race this wide open , this close to the primary election. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. It's so interesting. Um , so sad to say that sexual misconduct allegations against popular politician is nothing new. I mean , here in San Diego , mayor Bob Filner resigned in 2013 after numerous allegations of sexual assault and harassment. More recently , San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher resigned after allegations were raised against him. A fifth person is expected to step forward in Swalwell case just today. So I'm wondering what you're left thinking about when looking at this story.
S2: And there are people who abuse power in this way. I think one thing that sticks out to me about this particular story is that there were two things that really , um , brought about his very rapid downfall the past few days. One is there was traditional mainstream media reporting that I think is still really important in assessing the truth of these situations. You know , these reports by the Chronicle and by CNN included corroboration with people that the women who were making these accusations had spoken with at the time that the incidents happened. They were corroborated with , in some cases , medical reports. Um , and so I think that is a big part of it. You know , he had been facing rumors for a long time , and it's still really important for mainstream media reporting and that kind of traditional journalism to play a role in bringing these things to light and corroborating stories. And then the other thing that comes to mind is that , um , the public was kind of primed already in the few days before the reports came out. To be hearing this story by a few younger women political influencers on social media , who were fighting really hard to bring these stories to light , even when they were just rumors. Um , and so they , you know , kind of made a space for other women to come forward with these stories. Um , and I think that just shows that with a younger generation entering politics , there's a lot less tolerance for this kind of behavior , um , than there used to be. And I think , you know , it was the combination of that reporting and those women's efforts that kind of forced change so quickly here.
S1: Yeah , I know you've been following a lot these past several days , but briefly , what are you following next ? Yeah.
S2: Well , definitely I'm interested in seeing who , if anyone is able to take the lead , um , post Swalwell in this race on the Democratic side , I'm also really interested in seeing on the Republican side , if Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco continue to tie in the polls as they have so far , President Trump has weighed in and endorsed Steve Hilton. That was kind of expected to make Hilton pull ahead into the lead. But at a Republican convention last weekend , Republican delegates , uh , favored Bianco instead. Neither of them got the party endorsement , but they did vote. More delegates voted for Bianco. And so it'll be interesting to see how much Trump's word means here amongst California Republicans , amongst California voters in general. Of course , Trump is very unpopular , so I'll be interested in seeing what effect Trump's , uh , sort of intervention here has on the race overall.
S1: We will definitely be following your reporting on that. I've been speaking with Jeannie Kwong. She covers California politics for Cal Matters. Jeannie , thanks for joining us as always.
S2: Thank you so much for having me on.
S1: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
