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The Swalwell Affair: How the Media Sat on ‘Whispers’ Until Democrats Needed Him Gone

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Community Change Action)

Jarrett Stepman / @JarrettStepman

Jarrett Stepman is a columnist for The Daily Signal. He is also the author of "The War on History: The Conspiracy to Rewrite America's Past." Send an email to Jarrett

An inconvenient Democrat has had his career torpedoed by an avalanche of allegations, and the media want to give themselves a big pat on the back for their heroic “investigative journalism.”

They deserve no applause from the American people. In fact, the whole episode is a masterclass in media bias. More on that in a bit.

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., announced Monday that he was not only bowing out of the California governor’s race to replace outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom, but that he would be leaving Congress entirely.

Swalwell, in just a few days, was hit with an avalanche of accusations that he had inappropriate relationships and engaged in sexual misconduct with a series of women, including a staffer. Swalwell is married.

As I write this, another accuser has come forward saying that Swalwell drugged and raped her in 2018.

BREAKING: "In 2018, while I was living and working as a model in Beverly Hills, and I also owned a fashion software company, I had contact with Eric Swalwell on three separate occasions.""I knew he was married at the time and that his wife was pregnant. He was my friend. On the… pic.twitter.com/IxRvGVXEGN— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 14, 2026

BREAKING: "In 2018, while I was living and working as a model in Beverly Hills, and I also owned a fashion software company, I had contact with Eric Swalwell on three separate occasions.""I knew he was married at the time and that his wife was pregnant. He was my friend. On the… pic.twitter.com/IxRvGVXEGN

So far, Swalwell has denied the allegations and said he was resigning from Congress because he was distracted from his duties.

“I am aware of efforts to bring an immediate expulsion vote against me and other members,” Swalwell wrote on X. “Expelling anyone in Congress without due process, within days of an allegation being made, is wrong. But it’s also wrong for my constituents to have me distracted from my duties. Therefore, I plan to resign my seat in Congress.”

So far, nothing has been proven. We’ve seen previous “#MeToo” crusades turn out to be bunk, and that could be the case here. He could be a cad, but not a criminal. There are many possibilities.

Of course, Swalwell didn’t need facts or evidence to rush to condemn others who faced sexual assault accusations in the past. It’s hard to feel much sympathy for his plight.

What’s become clear, though, is that the allegations the media are dredging up now have been circulating in Democratic and media circles for a long time, if you can believe the commentary on X. Politico called it a “whisper network.” One journalist, Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, wrote on X that she knew about these whispers for years, but the story wasn’t her “beat.”

Then we get to the most ridiculous claim of all.

On CNN Monday night, Brian Stelter tooted the horn of his own network and showered praise on its due diligence in investigating Swalwell. He called it a “testament to the power of investigative reporting.”

Eric Swalwell ending his bid for California governor is, among other things, a testament to the power of investigative reporting pic.twitter.com/4xzUg944dt— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) April 13, 2026

Eric Swalwell ending his bid for California governor is, among other things, a testament to the power of investigative reporting pic.twitter.com/4xzUg944dt

What would we do without the legacy and corporate media working so hard to keep us informed?

It appears that rumors about Swalwell have been around for nearly a decade, even before he briefly ran for president in 2020. Is this a tribute to the glories of investigative journalism, or an example of malpractice?

These revelations line up in the most convenient way to ensure that Swalwell would leave the governor’s race at a time before his run could seriously jeopardize his party’s ability to win that race.

And that’s somehow the unseemliest part of this whole affair.

Despite Democrats holding a virtual lock on state-level politics for more than a decade, they find themselves in a situation where a Republican has a chance at taking the governor’s office. This is because they have a “jungle primary” system, whereby the top two vote-getters of any party advance to the general election.

In normal times, this would mean only Democrats would be on the ballot in a general election. But something funny is happening this year.

There are so many California Democrats desperate to get a crack at being governor, and apparently so few compelling candidates, that they’ve oversaturated the field. This has allowed two Republicans in the race to rise to the top of the polls, making a Republican/Republican runoff at least theoretically possible.

So what you are seeing now is a Machiavellian scramble, whereby the half-dozen Democrats in the race and their media allies find a way—any way—to delete candidates from the race.

It was just a few weeks ago that Swalwell and his fellow Democrats were accusing the Trump administration of weaponizing the FBI against him because he was allegedly sleeping with a Chinese spy. That couldn’t possibly be of concern, given his inclusion on the House Intelligence Committee, right?

Then events took a turn.

Just days before the Swalwell media deluge occurred, it seemed that the California election really could produce a Republican governor.

“If the primary were held today, according to the most recent polling, that would mean two Republican candidates, each pulling in just 14 percent of the primary vote, battling it out for the governor’s office in the fall,” Governing magazine reported on Thursday. “A lot could change before primary day, but the Democratic Party is increasingly nervous.”

A lot happened, almost immediately.

The allegations poured out. Swalwell’s supporters pulled out. He was ritualistically denounced by party leaders. In about a week, the California congressman went from being a front-runner in a governor’s election to resigning from his seat.

What this whole thing looks like, as my colleague Fred Lucas noted on X, is that the media were simply spoon-fed the Swalwell story to ensure that at least one of the other Democrats would make it into the general election and win the race.

That makes this media cycle against Swalwell nothing more than a shining example of how much the legacy media help Democrats, even when they are targeting a Democrat.

Perhaps the bias and collusion are only too obvious at this point. It’s still remarkable to witness the swift ruthlessness of the Democrat-media machine in action.

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