Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) was on the verge of consolidating Democratic votes ahead of the June 2 primary for governor of the biggest state in the union. He was leading six other Democrats in polls and had just secured endorsements from California’s two largest government unions, which promised to spend millions of dollars on his campaign.
But all of that came crashing down around him after a local newspaper published allegations that he sexually assaulted a former female employee. Within hours, a national cable network aired additional sexual harassment allegations from three other women, and several campaign staffers resigned, Sens. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) withdrew their endorsements, and current and former House Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) called on Swalwell to leave the race.
By Sunday, the largest government union in the state, the California Teachers Association, had withdrawn its endorsement, as had SEIU California, the umbrella organization for the state’s local SEIU government unions. That was followed by a letter from more than 50 former Swalwell staffers announcing that they stood with his accusers and calling on him to drop out. By Sunday night, he was gone from the race, and by Monday, he had resigned from Congress.
Unfortunately for Democrats, ballots for the June 2 election have already been printed and will start hitting voters’ mailboxes on May 4. So Swalwell’s name will still be among voters’ choices, alongside billionaire Tom Steyer, who has poured $120 million of his own money into the race, former Democratic California Rep. Katie Porter, and four other candidates, all stuck in single digits.
Swalwell’s collapse makes it more plausible, though still unlikely, that the two leading Republican candidates for governor, former Fox News host Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, could secure the top two spots in the primary, blocking all Democratic candidates out of the general election. According to the RealClearPolitics polling average, with Swalwell gone, Hilton and Bianco lead with 14.7% and 13% of the vote, respectively, followed by Porter at 11.3% and Steyer at 10%. Before his fall, Swalwell had surged to second place overall, and first among Democrats, at 13.7%.
No Republican has won statewide office in California since then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s reelection in 2006. Getting boxed out of the general election in a state where Vice President Kamala Harris took 59% of the vote would be humiliating for the California Democratic Party. But this race has been a dumpster fire for Democrats from the start.
First, there was Porter’s viral, combative interview with a local CBS News affiliate in October 2025. Asked how she would appeal to President Donald Trump’s voters, Porter dismissively responded, “How would I need them in order to win, ma’am?” Minutes later, Porter threatened to end the interview, saying the reporter’s questions were “unnecessarily argumentative,” adding, “I don’t want to keep doing this. I don’t want to have an unhappy experience with you, and I don’t want this all on camera.” But it was all on camera, and Porter’s poll numbers have flatlined ever since.
Then, in November, Xavier Becerra, President Joe Biden’s secretary of Health and Human Services, took a political hit when his chief of staff, Sean McCluskie, was implicated in federal corruption charges after Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-CA) former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, was caught directing $225,000 from Becerra’s old campaign account to McCluskie’s spouse for a no-show job. Becerra himself was not implicated in the scandal, but for a candidate running on competence and experience, and whose HHS had already lost track of more than 300,000 illegal immigrant children, it was a serious blow.
California Democrats could not even manage the basic task of holding a gubernatorial debate without turning it into a farce. The one major debate on the calendar, scheduled for late March at the University of Southern California, was canceled a day before it was to begin after the qualifying criteria, based on minimum polling and fundraising requirements, produced an all-white stage and excluded all the Democratic candidates who were members of racial minorities. It was a fitting humiliation for a party that prioritizes identity over substance and results.
The real but untold story behind the Democratic Party’s dumpster fire governor’s race is one about who decided not to run. Harris could have won in a cakewalk, but she chose not to enter. She has her eyes on another presidential run in 2028. If she thought she could burnish her resume with gubernatorial experience, she would have jumped at the chance.
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But she obviously didn’t think governing California would help her. Harris’s decision raises real questions about whether the California governorship is still seen as a legitimate stepping stone to higher office. Newsom will be running in 2028 and will have to defend his record in a state with one of the nation’s highest unemployment rates, the highest homeless population, and one of the highest poverty rates. As governor of California, Harris would also have been forced to defend the highest gas prices in the country, a declining population, and billions of dollars wasted on a high-speed train to nowhere.
California is the largest and wealthiest state in the country. Top-tier Democrats should be jumping at the chance to govern it. Instead, Democrats know the state has become ungovernable and are avoiding the job at all costs, leaving compromised candidates such as Porter, Steyer, and Swalwell to fight over the wreckage.