Why the Cancelation of Eric Swalwell Is Bad for Women
We shouldn’t be so quick to protect women from unwanted sexual contact that we make it impossible for them to ever consent to it at all.
California’s gubernatorial race just got a massive shakeup in the form of a #metoo scandal surrounding the highest polling Democrat in the race. Representative Eric Swalwell was polling third, behind two Republicans. But his campaign—and career—are now on life support after a series of women came out alleging sexual misconduct by the Congressman.
Yet what’s happening to Eric Swalwell right now is not a reckoning over his gross behavior. It’s a #metoo witchhunt, organized and motivated by the Democrats’ desire not to lose the California governor’s race.
Consider the fact that the rumors about Swalwell had been circling for years. “[H]is behavior towards women was known by all levels of our local government and the Alameda County Democratic Party,” as one reporter put it. So why did this reporter never report the story? He explained that he’d tried repeatedly. “I can’t force women to speak out, and when they chose not to, I didn’t push. I also knew that Swalwell was known to threaten litigation.”
It was only in the run-up to the election that the story got legs. Now, Swalwell is facing criminal investigations and mounting calls to resign from both his campaign for governor and from Congress. Many of his supporters are now retracting their endorsements—from the SEIU to Nancy Pelosi to Adam Schiff. Swalwell, for his part, is denying the allegations. “I’ve certainly made mistakes in judgment in my past, but those mistakes are between me and my wife and to her- I apologize deeply for putting her in this position,” Swalwell said in a video posted to social media.
The claims cover a range of alleged misconduct. A former staffer says that she was raped by Swalwell while drunk in Manhattan in 2024. She told CNN she pushed him off her and said no, but he didn’t stop. It was their second sexual encounter, the woman said, both after nights of heavy drinking; the first episode was in 2019, after Swalwell sent her photos of his penis and she reciprocated with nude photos. “She said she found the attention flattering, but also felt nervous because he was her boss,” CNN reported. One night, she gave him oral sex in his car. Another night, they got drunk together at a bar and she woke up in a hotel room, naked next to him. “She said it wasn’t clear to her at the time that she had been sexually assaulted, but that she later realized that the encounter was not consensual because she had been so intoxicated.”
Another woman exchanged text messages with Swalwell and ended up being kissed by him in a bar without her consent, she said, also after heavy drinking. Two other women said he sent them obscene messages.
The women’s stories follow a similar pattern: Swalwell would show “close interest in their lives when they were in their twenties and finding their footing professionally, making them feel special and even starstruck,” explained CNN. The messages would then turn increasingly sexual, yet the women continued writing back. “Many said they reciprocated and engaged with him in part because of his position of power.”
Let me state clearly that I’m no fan of Eric Swalwell. I find his political persona to be gross and divisive. Moreover, if he actually raped or assaulted any of these women, he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
But it’s also undeniable that the allegations described by CNN and other outlets include a lot of what seems like grey area.
