Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell announced Monday he planned to resign from Congress following explosive allegations of sexual misconduct against him.
The announcement from the California Democrat comes as he faced a just-announced House ethics investigation and mounting pressure on both sides of the aisle to step down. Swalwell, who has denied the allegations, had already suspended his California gubernatorial bid — though that did not tamp down the calls that he leave his job. The congressman was also confronting the prospect of a vote on the House floor to expel him.
“Expelling anyone in Congress without due process, within days of an allegation being made, is wrong,” Swalwell said in a statement posted to X. “But it’s also wrong for my constituents to have me distracted from my duties. Therefore, I plan to resign my seat in Congress.”
He did not indicate precisely when he would leave office. A special election to fill the congressman’s seat could take place this summer.
CNN and the San Francisco Chronicle reported last week that a former staffer accused Swalwell sexual assault, describing a night of drinking that ended with him having sex with her when she could not consent. In addition to the allegation of sexual assault, three other women who spoke with CNN alleged other sexual misconduct, including that Swalwell sent unsolicited nude photos and graphic messages.
Swalwell has strongly and repeatedly denied allegations of sexual assault.
“I am deeply sorry to my family, staff and constituents for mistakes in judgement I’ve made in my past,” Swalwell said in his statement announcing his plans to resign. “I will fight the serious, false allegation made against me. However, I must take responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I did make.”
Swalwell’s planned resignation marks a remarkable and swift political downfall.
Elected to Congress in 2012, the California Democrat quickly rose within the ranks of his party. Appearing regularly on television and alongside leadership, Swalwell was part of his party’s most high-profile political battles on Capitol Hill and made a brief run for president in the 2020 election.
At this time last week, the congressman was vying to win his state’s June 2 primary in the governor’s race. At that time, the allegations largely existed in uncorroborated form on social media, and Swalwell had issued a preemptive rebuttal.
“This false, outrageous rumor is being spread 27 days before an election begins by flailing opponents who have sadly teamed up with MAGA conspiracy theorists because they know Eric Swalwell is the frontrunner in this race,” Swalwell campaign communications director Micah Beasley said in a statement at the time.
But then came CNN’s and the Chronicle’s reporting, which led to a raft of his supporters pulling their endorsements and urging him to drop out of the race. Some went even further, saying he should leave office.
More than 50 former Swalwell staffers signed a letter Sunday calling on him to drop out of the race and resign from Congress.
“The allegations reported by the San Francisco Chronicle and CNN are serious, credible, and demand accountability,” the letter said. “We stand unequivocally with our colleague, who showed extraordinary courage in coming forward to share her truth. We believe her.”
On Monday, not long before Swalwell announced he would resign, Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, a longtime ally who chaired his 2020 presidential campaign, said in a statement it was time for the embattled California representative to go.
“I support the ethics committee’s investigation and believe Eric Swalwell is no longer fit to be a Member of Congress. He should be expelled from Congress,” Gallego said in a statement, adding, “I trusted someone who I believed was a friend, but it is now clear that he is not the person I thought I knew.”
Gallego told CNN on Monday evening that he last spoke to Swalwell on Friday after the reports about the sexual assault allegation surfaced. He said he pressed Swalwell to get out of the governor’s race and resign.
“As soon as I got in the car, I told him, ‘Take care of your family, get out,’” Gallego said.
While it was not yet clear whether an effort to expel Swalwell would succeed, some members of his own party had begun plotting how to remove him from the House after reading details of the alleged sexual misconduct with disgust.
And he was not the only member these Democrats had been seeking to punish with expulsion — the most severe consequence possible for a member of Congress. Some Democrats had been privately signaling they would be willing to vote to oust Swalwell only if Republicans did the same for one of their own embattled colleagues, multiple sources told CNN.
Behind the scenes, a plan had emerged for a woman from each party, Democratic Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández of New Mexico and GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, to each draft an expulsion measure to force separate removal votes targeting members who had publicly faced allegations of wrongdoing. The GOP representative’s measure would target Swalwell, while the Democrat’s would target GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas, who last month acknowledged an affair with a staffer who later died by suicide.
Not long after Swalwell’s announcement, Gonzales similarly announced in a surprise move that he, too, would step down from Congress imminently.
“There is a season for everything and God has a plan for us all. When Congress returns tomorrow, I will file my retirement from office. It has been my privilege to serve the great people of Texas,” Gonzales said in a statement posted to X.
Swalwell’s resignation isn’t the end of the fallout from the allegations. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said Saturday it is investigating the allegation of sexual assault the former staffer said took place in New York. The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office told CNN in a statement Saturday it is “evaluating whether any alleged criminal conduct occurred within” the Bay Area county, where the same woman accused Swalwell of a separate act of sexual misconduct she said took place in 2019.
Once a member of the House Intelligence Committee, Swalwell played a high-profile role in both impeachments of President Donald Trump. Swalwell was appointed by then-Speaker House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to serve as an impeachment manager to argue Democrats’ case in the Senate during Trump’s second impeachment trial in 2021.
In 2023, then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy denied seats on the intelligence panel to Swalwell and Adam Schiff, a fellow California Democrat and the former chairman of the panel.
“I cannot put partisan loyalty ahead of national security, and I cannot simply recognize years of service as the sole criteria for membership on this essential committee. Integrity matters more,” McCarthy wrote in a letter to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries as he announced the move.
Swalwell had also previously faced a separate House Ethics Committee probe unrelated to the misconduct allegations.
The committee closed the prior investigation in 2023 without taking action. The inquiry was opened following claims that Swalwell had been targeted by a suspected Chinese intelligence operative as part of a broader effort to establish ties with US politicians.
Swalwell told CNN in 2020 that he was “shocked” when the FBI informed him that he had been targeted and said that he immediately cooperated with federal investigators who were looking into the individual in question.
The Washington Post reported in March that FBI Director Kash Patel was pushing to release case files from the bureau’s investigation.
This story has been updated with additional information.
