Rep. Eric Swalwell’s campaign for California governor is in full meltdown mode after a former staffer came forward accusing him of sexually assaulting her twice while she was too intoxicated to consent — once during her time working for him and another time years later.
The San Francisco Chronicle first reported the allegations on Friday. The woman says she worked nearly two years for Swalwell in his district office in Castro Valley, beginning in 2019 when she was just 21. Within weeks of her hiring, she says Swalwell started pursuing her.
The woman said Swalwell began pursuing her within weeks after she was hired at age 21 to work in the Democrat’s district office in Castro Valley in 2019. Swalwell messaged her on Snapchat, she said, sending images of his genitals and seeking nude pictures of her in return.
She said Swalwell, who is married and 17 years her senior, tried to kiss her in her car when she drove him home from a donor meeting one night. Driving him to another event weeks later, she said Swalwell pulled out his penis in the car and asked her to perform oral sex on him. She said she did so in a parking lot.
In September 2019, the woman said, Swalwell invited her out for drinks and she became so severely intoxicated that she does not remember the rest of the night. She said she woke up naked in Swalwell’s hotel bed and could feel the effect of vaginal intercourse. She said Swalwell distanced himself from her afterward and the relationship faded.
Five years later, the woman said, she attended an April 2024 charity gala where Swalwell was honored. The woman, who no longer worked for Swalwell, said they met for drinks afterward, during which she became so inebriated that she only remembers snippets of the night, including pushing Swalwell away and telling him, “No,” while he allegedly forced himself on her.
As PJ Media previously reported, multiple women are expected to come forward with similar allegations.
Steve Hilton, the leading Republican candidate for governor in California, really hit Swalwell where it hurt in a post on X, using Swalwell’s own words against him.
Totally agree https://t.co/LrLWJjgAgg
— Steve Hilton (@SteveHiltonx) April 10, 2026
Swalwell’s campaign is now in total chaos. Multiple staffers reportedly resigned ahead of the Chronicle story’s publication, and pressure from both allies and rivals is mounting.
Top staffers departed the campaign shortly before the story published. Soon after, Rep. Jimmy Gomez said in a statement that he was stepping down from the campaign and urged Swalwell to leave the race — a stunning rebuke from a key surrogate who had helped introduce Swalwell to power players in Sacramento, where Gomez served in the state Assembly.
“Today I learned shocking information about Eric Swalwell containing the ugliest and most serious accusations imaginable,” Gomez said in a statement. “My involvement in any campaign begins and ends with trust. I cannot in good conscience remain in any role with this campaign, and I am stepping down from it effective immediately.”
The fallout extended to prominent interest groups that had backed Swalwell. The California Medical Association, which has dropped more than $1 million into a pro-Swalwell committee, said it was convening an emergency board meeting. The California Teachers Association suspended its endorsement.
Swalwell’s attorney, Elias Dabaie, isn’t helping his client’s image. He sent a cease-and-desist letter to the woman, writing that she had shown “the conduct of a loyal and supportive colleague, not a victim” and arguing that “the credibility of your accusations is fatally undermined by your voluntary and cooperative relationship with Mr. Swalwell over the course of many years following the period in question.” In other words, the defense seems to be that she liked her job too much to have been assaulted.
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“Eric Swalwell is and always has been a disgusting pig who needs to resign from Congress and drop out of the governor’s race in disgrace,” Republican National Committee spokesman Nick Poche said in a statement. “If he won’t, then his best friend Adam Gray needs to publicly call on him to do so.”
Gray is in a top leadership position in Swalwell’s gubernatorial campaign.
Swalwell’s campaign tried to brush it all off as “anonymous election eve claims” that are “categorically false.” But the denials aren’t stopping the damage. His political career is crashing hard under the weight of his own scandals.
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