The Patriot Post® · Sinking Swalwell?

The long knives are out for California Democrat gubernatorial candidate Representative Eric Swalwell. With the primary election less than two months away, Swalwell, the Democrat frontrunner among a crowded field of mostly Democrat candidates, is polling just behind Republican candidate Steve Hilton.

In California’s jungle primary system, the top two candidates after the primary advance to a runoff, regardless of party affiliation. With Swalwell leading the pack of Democrats, it comes as little surprise that an attack campaign against him has been raised by fellow leftists.

Swalwell infamously gained notoriety following revelations in 2020 that he had unwittingly been involved in an affair with a Chinese spy named Christine Fang, or Fang Fang. The young congressman would eventually lose his seat on the House Intelligence Committee after Republicans regained control of the House, with then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy citing Swalwell’s affair as the primary reason for his removal.

Swalwell pleaded ignorance of Fang’s role as a spy, but that didn’t really exonerate him. Quite the contrary — it underscored that he had no business serving on the intelligence committee, where he may have inadvertently shared sensitive information.

What should have ended his political career barely made a dent. Indeed, in Swalwell’s case, it would appear to be a classic instance of “failing upwards,” given his lead among Democrats in the gubernatorial race. If the runoff does come down to a choice between Swalwell and Hilton, the congressman is likely a shoo-in for the governor’s mansion in deep-blue California.

With this backdrop, on Sunday, Cheyenne Hunt, the head of the leftist outfit Gen Z for Change, posted a video to Instagram, airing an allegation from a woman claiming that Swalwell has a history of engaging in sexual harassment of multiple women who have worked for him. Hunt shared screenshots of text messages she had received from this woman, which read:

You know Eric Swalwell has slept with many of his interns and makes them all sign NDAs so they don’t speak up, right? And when I was 19 he tried hitting on me and sliding into my DMs and I have so many other friends that have similar experiences with him.

Hunt went on to say that since that post, a “shocking” number of “credible” women have relayed their stories of being victimized by Swalwell. She promised further revelations.

The 45-year-old Swalwell is a married man and the father of three children. Campaign spokesperson Micah Beasley responded to Hunt’s accusation, “In 13 years, no one in Eric Swalwell’s Congressional office has ever been asked to sign an NDA. Ever. In 13 years, not a single ethics complaint by any staff in his office or any other office has ever been lodged. Ever.”

Hunt then countered, posting on X, “Smearing survivors with claims that they ‘teamed up with MAGA’ is morally repugnant. These women are brave and deserve to be heard. We are working with legal counsel and the investigative team of a highly reputable outlet to ensure that those stories are told the right way.”

Evidently, Swalwell’s sexual exploits are an open secret in Washington. And the only reason they are now getting media coverage is that other Democrats and their media cohorts have decided that they’d rather have a different Democrat govern California than Swalwell.

As New York City Councilwoman Vicki Paladino astutely observed, “The thing about all these Eric Swalwell revelations is that ALL of them were known for years. But the media worked with the Democrat establishment to keep them quiet as long as Swalwell was useful.” Paladino further opined that the fear of two Republicans ending up at the top of the ticket for California’s gubernatorial runoff would be a disaster for Democrats, and that Swalwell presented a very real possibility of that exact scenario playing out.

Fortunately for Democrats, President Donald Trump waded in with an endorsement of Steve Hilton, which almost surely prevents a scenario in which two Republicans are at the top.

As for Swalwell, this is a classic case of intraparty wrangling. Politics is often a dirty, cutthroat game, where seeking to defeat one’s opponent brings out all the dirty laundry, whether genuine or not.