Eric Swalwell’s political ambitions just hit a major snag. Swalwell, most famous for public flatulence and bedding a Chinese spy, wants to be the next governor of California, but he is now the target of a court challenge that could blow his entire gubernatorial campaign out of the water before it even gets started.
The accusation? He doesn’t actually live in the state he wants to govern.
Conservative activist and filmmaker Joel Gilbert dropped a legal bomb on January 8, filing a petition in Sacramento Superior Court arguing that Swalwell is constitutionally barred from seeking the governor’s office.
Gilbert has a strong case.
California’s constitution requires gubernatorial candidates to live in the state for five years before the election. Gilbert says Swalwell has been living in Washington, D.C., not California, which makes him legally ineligible to run for office.
“Swalwell is ineligible to run for governor of California because the California constitution requires that a candidate live in the state for five years before an election,” Gilbert told PJ Media. “Swalwall has no home address in California; that’s why he committed perjury on his candidate statement form 501 by providing his attorney’s office for his home address. Swalwell has a sworn Deed of Trust on his Washington, D.C. home where he declared that location as his primary residence.”
The complaint gets more interesting from there.
Public records searches allegedly show that Swalwell has no ownership or lease of any California property — his congressional financial disclosures from 2011 through 2024 back this up, listing zero California real estate holdings. When Swalwell filed his campaign paperwork on December 4, he listed an address on Capitol Mall in Sacramento. The problem is that the address isn’t a residence; it’s the office of his Sacramento lawyer, Greenberg Traurig, located in a high-rise.
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Swalwell owns a $1.2 million, six-bedroom home in northeast Washington, D.C., where he lives with his wife, Brittany Watts, and their three kids. Mortgage documents from April 2022 list that D.C. property as his “principal residence.”
There are really only two possibilities here, according to Gilbert: Swalwell either committed mortgage fraud — a serious crime that could result in prison time — or he’s ineligible to run for governor.
“It’s not surprising that Swalwell does not have a home in California,” Gilbert told PJ Media. “His finances are a mess. I don’t believe he could afford it. He hasn’t paid down $100,000 of student debt nor $100,000 in credit card bills during 13 years in Congress, where he’s made $174,000 a year, according to his financial disclosures. He also cashed out his pension, which is a huge red flag. Swalwell needs to explain his disastrous finances to voters before he can justify taking over a $500 billion state budget!”
Glibert has created a website laying out his case, including every court filing and Swalwell’s public records.
And Gilbert isn’t just asking for a slap on the wrist; he wants California Secretary of State Shirley Weber to remove Swalwell from the ballot entirely.
Swalwell entered the race last year. As I wrote back in November, Swalwell seems more interested in positioning himself to run for president in 2028 than actually governing California.
Gilbert agrees.
“Because California is a one-party state, Eric Swalwell knows if he wins the Democrat primary, he will become governor,” Gilbert told PJ Media. “He also knows that far-left voters turn out for the primary. That’s why Swalwell is positioning himself as a far-left anti-Donald Trump radical. He has huge ambition and wants to be governor of California. I’m certain his plan is to lead an anti-Trump ‘insurrection’ as California governor. Then he will run for president again.”
Many members of Congress keep homes both in D.C. and their home states, so residency is a gray area. But declaring one place as your principal residence on a mortgage while claiming to live somewhere else on your campaign paperwork is a whole different ballgame. Gilbert argues this isn’t a mere technicality. It’s a constitutional requirement that applies to everyone, no matter how politically connected they are.
If Gilbert’s petition succeeds, Swalwell might find himself disqualified before California voters ever get the chance to weigh in.
Or perhaps in prison.
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