By Mary O’KEEFE

This year’s California governor’s race had already proven to be different and difficult but now it is facing another issue. Former Representative Eric Swalwell dropped out of the race after accusations were made of alleged sexual misconduct and rape. 

Democrat Swalwell on Sunday dropped out of the race for governor and on Monday resigned from his job as U.S. Congressman of District 14 (East Bay Area of the San Francisco Bay Area). Last week Swalwell led in polls in the governor’s race; with him dropping out the multitude of Democrat candidates are now working hard to pick up his supporters. 

Swalwell began to face accusations on April 10 when the San Francisco Chronicle reported allegations from a former staffer accusing him of sexual assault in 2019 and 2024. Since then more women have come out to report alleged sexual misconduct. On Tuesday another accuser alleged that in 2018 Swalwell drugged and raped her. 

It is too late for Swalwell’s name to be taken off the June 2 primary ballot. The concern reported by many sources for Democrats is that people may still vote for him, not aware that he has dropped out of the race. This would divide the Democratic vote even more in the large field of Democratic candidates on the ballot. 

On Tuesday, in addition to Swalwell resigning from Congress, Republican congressman Tony Gonzales (representing Texas) also resigned. Swalwell and Gonzales faced Housing Ethics investigations into alleged sexual misconduct. 

Gonzales was elected to Congress in 2020. In September last year there were allegations of sexual misconduct with one of his staffers, who has since died by suicide. NBC reported it obtained text messages Gonzales in 2024 had sent to the former staffer that were allegedly sexually explicit. Another woman who worked for Gonzales also reported receiving similar text messages. 

Swalwell has maintained his innocence in the face of these allegations and plans on fighting the accusations. 

For California voters there will be a lot of names on the ballot for the governor’s seat – over 60 in fact, with 24 Democrat candidates, 12 Republicans, one Libertarian, one from the Peace and Freedom party, and 23 with no party affiliations.  Of course there will be some candidates who rise to the top in polling and the latest poll finds Democratic candidate Tom Steyer leading with 21% of likely voters and Republican candidate Steve Hilton at 18%. Democratic candidate Katie Porter and Republican Chad Bianco both have tied for third place. However, since Swalwell has dropped out, several billionaires have been throwing their support behind San Jose mayor Matt Mahan. 

The polls were conducted by Survey USA.