Eric Swalwell, buffeted by accusations of sexual misconduct, suspended his campaign for governor of California in mid-April, saying that he would fight the allegations but relinquish his quest for the state’s most powerful office.
Some Californians were not ready to give up on his candidacy. On Tuesday, Mr. Swalwell, a Democrat once seen as a front-runner, won more than 18,600 votes in far-from-complete primary returns, nearly enough to fill the arena during a Los Angeles Lakers game.
Mr. Swalwell’s tally was still a tiny share of the overall vote in America’s largest state, accounting for about a half percent of the ballots that had been counted as of Wednesday afternoon. As of 1:30 p.m. Pacific on Wednesday (4:30 p.m. Eastern), nearly five million ballots had been counted in the nonpartisan primary. Ten candidates had received more votes than Mr. Swalwell.
Still, his share showed that at least a small sliver of Californians had not written off Mr. Swalwell after the scandal, which also forced him to resign from his House seat in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Days before Mr. Swalwell ended his campaign and gave up his seat, The San Francisco Chronicle reported that a former staffer accused him of sexually assaulting her in a New York City hotel room after an awards event in 2024. That same day, CNN reported that four women, including one who appeared to be the same former staffer, had described sexual misconduct by Mr. Swalwell.
Mr. Swalwell’s endorsers promptly began withdrawing their support, and the Manhattan district attorney’s office said it was opening an investigation into the allegations. After he resigned, a woman said he had raped her in a West Hollywood hotel; his lawyer denied the allegation.
Mr. Swalwell said he faced the threat of an expulsion vote in Congress if he did not resign.
In a statement, he denied what he said was a “serious, false allegation” against him, but he also said he was sorry for his “mistakes in judgment.”
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