When Democrat Eric Swalwell defeated 20-term incumbent Pete Stark in 2012, it was a shocking victory for a young upstart county prosecutor.
It was also a win built on picking apart his opponent’s track record. Swalwell’s message to San Francisco Bay voters at the time: the 80-year-old Stark has been in Washington way too long.
“I live in the district,” Swalwell is heard saying in a newly resurfaced clip. “I will make sure that I commute to Washington and always stay connected with my district,” Swalwell is heard saying in a mock interview with a stand-in for Stark.
“That means driving the roads of my district, shopping the businesses of my district, and the basic requirement, sleeping under a roof in the district,” Swalwell says in the clip.
The video from the run-up to the 2012 election has come to light as the congressman seeks to succeed Governor Gavin Newsom and as the Democratic frontrunner faces flak for his residency claims after progressive billionaire Tom Steyer called on the California Secretary of State’s office to investigate.
Steyer’s petition, first published by Politico last week, argues that Swalwell “appears to live in California on paper only, making him unlikely to meet the basic residency requirements to run for Governor.”
The California Constitution includes a five-year residency requirement for gubernatorial candidates, though for years, the Secretary of State’s office has considered the requirement unconstitutional and unenforceable.
Swalwell, a former prosecutor who maintains a license with the State Bar, filed a sworn affidavit under penalty of perjury claiming that he has been a California resident since 2006.
He claims he’s lived since 2017 with another family in a 1,350-square-foot Livermore home owned by the sister-in-law of his political mentor, Tim Sbranti. But five neighbors failed to identify Swalwell on Wednesday when The Post showed them a picture of the congressman and identified him by name.
“I’ve never seen him,” said Gita Prusty, who noted she’s lived on Michell Court for five years.
Despite Swalwell’s claims that he has lived at the Livermore home, campaign records in recent years show the congressman has spent a significant amount of time and money staying at hotels in and around his congressional district. Swalwell’s campaign declined to answer The Post’s questions about the terms of his lease and why none of his neighbors knew a congressman and leading candidate for California governor had been living on their street for nearly nine years.
“There’s red flags all over the place — that his neighbors don’t know he’s there suggests that he’s not actually there,” Lee Fink, an Orange County attorney, said.
Fink worked in the Obama administration and now serves as a delegate for the California Democratic Party. She told The Post on Thursday that Swalwell’s residency issues have become “a big concern for us Democrats.” The video, titled, ‘Pete Stark Finally Debates Eric Swalwell…Kind Of’, was released in October of 2012 by Swalwell’s campaign. The promise to fulfill the ‘the basic requirement’ of living in the district can be heard around the 4:50 mark in the clip.
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