Eric Swalwell’s campaign falls apart as ex-staffer levels horrifying sexual assault claim

NY Post ^ | 4/10/26 | Annie Gaus, Josh Koehn

[Libloather]

Staffers for Eric Swalwell — a Democratic favorite in the California governor’s race — are reportedly fleeing as a disturbing claims emerged he sexually assaulted a young former staffer.

At least four people have “abruptly” quit the East Bay congressman’s flailing campaign as a disturbing claim emerged that he sexually assaulted a young female staffer in 2019, including when she was too intoxicated to consent, Politico reported.

That includes Courtni Pugh, a top advisor in charge of Swalwell’s organized labor strategy, and multiple other staffers.

The campaign departures come alongside a troubling report in the San Francisco Chronicle alleging that the East Bay rep had nonconsensual sexual contact with a former staffer who worked for roughly two years at Swalwell’s district office in Castro Valley starting in 2019, when she was 21 years old.

Swalwell, who was 38 at the time, sent her explicit Snapchat messages that included snaps of his genitals and “a video of himself sitting on an airplane, rubbing his penis through his pants,” according to the Chronicle.

The unnamed woman alleged that in September 2019, she went for drinks with Swalwell and become heavily intoxicated, remembering nothing for the rest of the evening but waking up the next morning in Swalwell’s hotel room with the feeling that she’d had vaginal intercourse.

[popdonnelly]

The guy’s a moron.

[popdonnelly]

The guy’s a moron.

[MayflowerMadam]

Yep. That’s what I was taking about. It makes sense. When I read the original post, that jumped out at me. (I watch a lot of true crime.)

[sheana]

Happened to me once. I was on my 2nd drink at a bar in Santa Monica, got up to go to the bathroom....last thing I remember until I woke up in our hotel room the next day about 10 am. Luckily I had a friend who knew something was really wrong when they found me laying on the bathroom floor and got me back to our hotel.

[healy61]

So, Swalwell’s governor’s race is nothing more than a fart in the wind.

[trebb]

True - but he and his Party ‘legitimized trial by public opinion.
And when his staff starts bailing, he apologizes to his wife of “bad judgement”, and Pelosi slams him, you can be pretty darn sure it ain’t all rumors...

[subterfuge]

There is a legal process

[Tommy Revolts]

...waking up the next morning in Swalwell’s hotel room with the feeling that she’d had vaginal intercourse.

He corpsed it.

[techetiger]

You are correct, he is a liability. California has a jungle primary and the current top 2 vote getters are Republican, meaning that there may not even be a Democrat in the runoff. The Democrats have to get Swalwell out of the race so that Gavin Newsome will at least have a chance of getting into the runoff (in which case he will win). That’s the only reason democrat politicians are turning on him now.