Eric Swalwell ends bid for California governor after sexual misconduct allegations | CNN Politics

Rep. Eric Swalwell said Sunday he would withdraw from the California governor’s race in the wake of allegations of sexual misconduct that led to a nearly immediate campaign collapse, as staffers quit and prominent Democratic supporters urged him to drop out. “I am suspending my campaign for Governor,” he posted on X. “To my family, staff, friends, and supporters, I am deeply sorry for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past. I will fight the serious, false allegations that have been made — but that’s my fight, not a campaign’s.” Swalwell was long considered a top contender in a wide-open field with several prominent Democrats and two Republicans ahead of the state’s June 2 nonpartisan primary. But on Friday, his campaign was roiled when CNN and the San Francisco Chronicle published reports in which women accused Swalwell of sexual misconduct. A former Swalwell staffer told CNN the congressman raped her when she was heavily intoxicated and left her bruised and bleeding. Swalwell has strongly denied the allegations. “I was pushing him off of me, saying no,” the woman told CNN of the incident, which she said happened in 2024 in New York City after she had sto