A California veteran congressman accused of rape pulled out of the state’s gubernatorial primary Sunday, two days after an explosive TV report featuring his alleged victim.
“I am suspending my campaign for governor,” U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell tweeted Sunday night.
Swalwell, a member of Congress for 13 years, was considered the leading Democrat candidate to succeed term-limited Gavin Newsom.
But over the weekend several women accused him in a CNN report of sexual misconduct and one of them of rape.
Swalwell aired a self-produced video Saturday night denying the charges and saying he would fight them.
But 24 hours later he caved to the political pressure from leading Democrats urging him to quit the race.
“To my family, staff, friends, and supporters, I am deeply sorry for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past,” he said without specificity.
“I will fight the serious, false allegations that have been made – but that’s my fight, not a campaign’s,” Swalwell said.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-SC, running in her own state for governor, said her Democrat counterpart could face congressional expulsion if he doesn’t resign.
“Good first step,” she tweeted of his quitting the California gubernatorial campaign. “Now resign from Congress or face expulsion.”
Lisa Boothe of Fox News said the Democrat congressional leaders who had urged Swalwell to exit the race didn’t care about his alleged victims.
Boothe said they worried he was radioactive due to longstanding rumors about his alleged sexual exploits.
Getting him out of the race “was about clearing the primary field to block Republicans from advancing,” she said.
Michael Trujillo, a Democratic political strategist based in Los Angeles, told The New York Post he had heard of improper relationships between Swalwell and staff as far back as 2017 – but even he was taken back by the rape allegations.
“Narcissistic sociopaths think they’re good guys,” Trujillo said. “So no matter what Eric Swalwell has been accused of, he still thinks he’s a good person.”
Katie Miller, a conservative podcaster, blamed the legacy media and liberal Washington press clique for covering up Swalwell’s alleged extramarital sexual escapades for years.
Miller said they are now outing him in a “coordinated takedown” merely to protect the Democrat party from losing the California governorship to the Republicans.
Joseph Garofoli, political columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, said the biggest beneficiary of Swalwell’s withdrawal is Democrat former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter.
“Democrats can pull victory from the jaws of defeat by coalescing around Porter,” Garofoli said.
Swalwell, a lawyer and married father of three, had been polling ahead of Porter in the gubernatorial primary contest.
Typical liberal swine.
I wonder if he used the Congressional slush fund to payoff some of his victims.