Rep. Eric Swalwell, a Democratic front-runner in the hotly contested California governor’s race, was accused of sexual assault and misconduct by a former staff member and other women, according to reports published on Friday.
The woman who worked for the Northern California congressman said she had a consensual relationship at times, but that he sexually assaulted her twice when she was too inebriated to consent, according to a report by the San Francisco Chronicle. Three other woman also have accused Swalwell of sexual misconduct, including receiving unsolicited nude photos from the Democrat, according to CNN.
The allegations against Swalwell has his campaign teetering on collapse, with powerful labor organizations and other major supporters pulling their endorsements and dropping political ads promoting the once-promising candidate. U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, one of many prominent Democrats who supported Swalwell, and others have called on him to drop out of the race.
Swalwell had been gaining traction in the crowded field, and the controversy completely upends the race just as voters are starting to pay attention.
“It’s like a bomb went off,” said Mike Madrid, a Republican strategist who runs the research nonprofit Latino Working Class Project.
Swalwell’s staff member was 21 years old when she started working for the congressman, who is nearly two decades her senior, and said she did not report the incidents to police because of fears she would not be believed.
“I have no skin in the game of who becomes governor of California, but I feel people have a right to know whether the person who leads a state that is a safe haven for so many women actually treats women with dignity and will protect their rights,” the woman, who was not identified because she is the alleged victim of sexual assault, told the Chronicle. “No one protected me from him, and so I have to protect the other young women like me who aspire to work in this field and he could prey upon.”
Swalwell on Friday denied the accusations.
“These allegations are false and come on the eve of an election against the front-runner for governor,” he said in a statement. “For nearly 20 years, I have served the public — as a prosecutor and a congressman and have always protected women. I will defend myself with the facts and where necessary bring legal action. My focus in the coming days is to be with my wife and children and defend our decades of service against these lies.”
State Supt. Tony Thurmond and San José Mayor Matt Mahan, other Democrats running for governor, immediately called on Swalwell to drop out of the race. Multiple staff members working for Swalwell’s campaign have resigned, according to a source close to the candidate who was not authorized to speak about the matter.
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Allegations of inappropriate behavior by the congressman have been circulating on social media and in political circles for weeks. On Thursday, an attorney representing Swalwell sent a cease-and-desist letter to at least one person demanding that they stop accusing the congressman of sexual assault.
Two days earlier, the congressman denounced online claims that he had inappropriate relationships with young congressional staff members.
“It’s false,” he told reporters after a town hall in Sacramento, saying he had never behaved inappropriately with female staff members or had a sexual relationship with a staff member or an intern, and denied allegations that his staff members were asked to sign nondisclosure agreements or entered into legal settlements.
In 2025, another woman said after drinking with Swalwell, she ended up in his hotel room without recollection of how she got there and that her memory of what happened is “a blur,” according to CNN. Two other women told the cable network’s reporters that the congressman sent them unsolicited photos of his penis and other sexual messages on Snapchat.
The allegations come at a pivotal time in the race to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom. The primary is June 2, but ballots start landing in voters’ mailboxes in less than a month.
The race to lead the nation’s largest state remains up for grabs, with eight prominent Democrats and two top Republicans jockeying to finish in first or second place in the primary and advance to the November election.
Swalwell, 45, is among the leading Democrats with the support of 13% of likely voters in a recent UC Berkeley poll co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times. That places him tied for first place among Democrats with former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter, with billionaire Tom Steyer not far behind.
Swalwell has won the support of powerful unions, including the California Teachers Assn., along with Schiff (D-Calif.) and many of his Democratic colleagues in Congress.
CTA President David Goldberg called the allegations “incredibly disturbing and unacceptable.”
“We are immediately suspending our support,” he said. “Our elected board will be meeting as soon as possible to follow our union’s democratic process to determine next steps.”
Rusty Hicks, the chairman of the California Democratic Party, said victims must be believed and also reiterated his call for Democratic candidates to gauge their viability.
“The allegations against Congressmember Swalwell are deeply disturbing,” he said in a statement. “Any person engaged in misconduct must take responsibility and be held accountable for their actions — including a Member of Congress and candidate for Governor. Finally, my call for all — repeat, all — candidates for Governor to ‘honestly assess the viability of their candidacy and campaign’ still stands. In fact, that call is more important now than ever before.”
The woman told the Chronicle that she was hired in 2019 to work in Swalwell’s Castro Valley district office when she was 21. He quickly began sending her messages and then nude pictures on Snapchat.
In September of that year, she said she had drinks with the congressman, blacked out and could feel the effects of intercourse when she woke up naked in Swalwell’s hotel bed, according to the report. In 2024, when she no longer worked for Swalwell, she said she attended a charity event honoring the congressman and met him for drinks afterward. She was intoxicated, but recalled Swalwell forcing himself upon her, and pushing him away and saying, “No,” according to the Chronicle.
The Chronicle corroborated her report with texts she sent a friend at the time and interviews with the friend and the woman’s then-boyfriend. The Chronicle’s reporters also reviewed medical records about a pregnancy and tests for sexually transmitted diseases a week after the alleged assault. She told them she had kept quiet about the alleged assaults because of fears about professional and personal repercussions.
Concern began brewing among Democrats before the allegations were published.
Cheyenne Hunt, a Laguna Hills attorney and executive director of a progressive advocacy group, and social media influencer Arielle Fodor, known online as Mrs. Frazzled, are among those publicizing the allegations online. Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, who has sparred with Swalwell in the past, has amplified the allegations on social media as well.
The Times has not independently corroborated reports of sexual misconduct.
Many politicians have survived serious allegations of sexual misconduct, including President Trump, who was accused of rape before winning the White House in 2016.
Others have seen a swift reckoning. In the hours and days after the late farmworkers rights leader César Chávez was accused of sexual abuse, his name and image were stripped from schools, streets and murals.
Two recent California governors have been accused of sexual impropriety; former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted to behaving improperly during his movie career and Gov. Gavin Newsom acknowledged an affair with a married staffer while mayor of San Francisco.
Swalwell, a former prosecutor, is married and has three children. The Iowa native briefly ran for president in 2020. On Thursday, he canceled a town hall in Palm Desert, reportedly because he was sick.
He has previously spoken out against sexual misconduct, most recently in support of women who told the New York Times that they were assaulted by Chávez.
“The women who have come forward are carrying years of pain. Speaking about that takes real courage,” Swalwell wrote in a tweet last month. “Ana Murguia, Debra Rojas and Dolores Huerta are speaking with clarity and strength. I stand with them and condemn all instances of sexual assault.”
The congressman also defended women who accused Brett Kavanaugh, then a nominee to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, of sexual misconduct in 2018.
“The more and more cases that are separate and independent that look the same, pretty soon a prosecutor starts to say to a jury … that the arrows are pointing in the same directions and what are the chances that three or four women independently, who never met each other, would have similar experiences with one person,” he said on MSNOW’s Ari Melber in September 2018 amid Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings.
In Congress, Swalwell has been a prominent critic of President Trump, serving as a manager of the second impeachment of the president and frequently blistering Trump on cable news shows.
In late March, the Washington Post reported that FBI Director Kash Patel may release documents about a decade-old investigation about Swalwell’s connections with a suspected Chinese spy. Swalwell cut off ties with Christine Fang, or Fang Fang, in 2015 after intelligence officials warned him and other members of Congress about Chinese efforts to infiltrate legislators’ offices. Swalwell was not accused of impropriety.
After news of the potential release of the files broke, Swalwell accused Trump of trying to sway the gubernatorial election and weaponizing the federal government against his political enemies.
Swalwell’s attorneys filed a cease-and-desist letter with Patel and the FBI. No documents have been released as of Friday.
He was previously accused of mortgage fraud by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte. Swalwell sued Pulte last year but dropped the suit this month.
In the gubernatorial race, Swalwell has faced criticism from fellow Democrat Tom Steyer that he was ineligible to run for governor because he did not truly live in California. Earlier this year, a Sacramento County judge ruled against a similar claim made by a conservative filmmaker.
Times staff writer Melody Gutierrez in Sacramento contributed to this report.
