Swalwell faces assault charges, calls to quit the race

from Jeanne KuangCalMatters

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, one of the leading candidates for governor of California, came under increasing pressure Friday to drop out of the race after a San Francisco Chronicle report that he sexually assaulted a former employee. Swawell has denied the allegations.

Several other Democratic candidates called for his immediate resignation, including Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and former Comptroller Betty Yee, who called the allegations “disgusting.”

Swawell had built support in the Democratic establishment, and at least one union and one politician who supported him quickly dropped their support Friday afternoon.

The Chronicle reported that a woman who worked at Swalwell’s Castro Valley office alleged that she had sexual contact with him while working for him and alleged that he sexually assaulted her when she was intoxicated. The report comes after weeks of rumors that Swalwell had inappropriate interactions with staff for years. In one case in 2019, the woman said she became intoxicated after Swawell asked her for drinks and woke up in her hotel room bed feeling the effects of intercourse.

“These allegations are false and come on the eve of an election against the front-runner for governor. For nearly 20 years, I have served the public – as a prosecutor and congressman, and I have always stood up for women. I will defend myself with the facts and, when necessary, take legal action,” Suwell said in a statement Friday.

In recent weeks, two social media influencers began posting online what many believed to be rumors about Swawell’s behavior with women. The influencers said they spoke with several young women with whom Swawell had behaved inappropriately. CalMatters has not independently verified the claims.

Swawell strongly pushed back against the allegations this week, telling reporters at a Sacramento town hall on Tuesday that they were “false,” that he “never” had a sexual relationship with anyone who worked for him. He suggested that the charges were politically motivated.

“I don’t want there to be any questions in the minds of Californians,” he said. “I’m also running as someone who will fearlessly stand up for Californians on the toughest issues and won’t flinch.”

Swalwell’s attorney sent cease and desist letters to some of the women, one of the influencers, Arielle Fodor, wrote online. Attorney Elias Dabaye did not respond to a request for comment on the Chronicle story, but confirmed to other news outlets the authenticity of the letter.

On Thursday night, Swalwell canceled a planned town hall in Southern California. Swawell began calling groups that had supported him Friday morning to tell them about an upcoming story in the Chronicle and to deny the story, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke to CalMatters.

At least four of his top campaign staffers, including a top consultant who helped him court labor support, suddenly resigned before the news report.

Swalwell’s two top Democratic rivals in the governor’s race, Tom Steyer and Katie Porter, on Friday avoided calling for him to drop out, though both issued statements praising the woman in the Chronicle story for coming forward.

Some groups that have supported Swalwell declined to comment on the allegations when contacted by CalMatters, saying their board members needed time to digest the news.

For others, the exodus was swift. U.S. Congressman Jimmy Gomez, a Los Angeles Democrat who chaired Swalwell’s campaign, resigned Friday and called on Swalwell to step down. He called the allegations “the ugliest and most serious allegations you can imagine.”

“My involvement in any campaign begins and ends with trust,” he said in a statement. “The congressman should leave the race now to have full accountability without doubt, distraction or delay.”

The powerful union California Teachers Association immediately suspended its support for Swawell, calling the allegations against him “incredibly disturbing and unacceptable” in a statement by President David Goldberg. “Our elected board will meet as soon as possible to follow the democratic process of our union to determine next steps.”

Another heavyweight union that supported him, the California Service Employees International Union, suspended at least one ad buy supporting Swawell after the allegations.

The California Medical Association, another supporter, is calling an emergency board meeting and “takes these allegations extremely seriously,” spokeswoman Erin Mellon said.

Yue Stella Yu of CalMatters contributed to this report.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.