Eric Swalwell Enters Crowded CA Governor’s Race Focused on One Thing

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., has announced he is running for California governor in the 2026 election, pitching himself as the candidate who will go after the “corrupt” President Donald Trump.

Swalwell announced his campaign on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Thursday night. “I love California. It’s the greatest country in the world,” Swalwell told the comedian. “But that’s why it pisses me off to see Californians running through the fields where they work from [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agents or troops in our streets. It’s horrifying.”

After announcing his bid on the controversial late-night show, Swalwell posted a video on X early Friday morning that focuses on his efforts to oppose Trump.

The next governor of California will have only “two jobs,” according to Swalwell. The first is to “keep the worst president in our history out of our homes, out of our streets, and out our lives.”

The ad shows scenes from “No Kings” protests as Swalwell claims, “No one will keep Californians safer. No one.”

“Californians will never bend the knee,” the California congressman adds.

Swalwell also touted his efforts to impeach Trump in the president’s first term. “Nancy Pelosi selected me for the Intelligence Committee and to help lead the impeachment of a corrupt president,” Swalwell boasts.

The congressman and now-Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., were both removed from their roles on that Intelligence Committee at the start of the 118th Congress in 2023. Swalwell was also an impeachment manager for the second failed impeachment effort.

The second job of the next governor is to “bring us a new California.”

Swalwell has served as a congressman since 2013. California’s 14th Congressional District, which he represents, is a D+20 district and the 59th most liberal district in the country, according to The Cook Political Report.

Even without former Vice President Kamala Harris running, Swalwell isn’t the only Democrat in the field. Former California Rep. Katie Porter is also running. Sheriff Chad Bianco of Riverside County, as well as political commentator Steve Hilton, are running as Republicans.

A campaign spokesperson for Bianco clashed out against Swalwell and current Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in a statement to The Daily Signal. “Eric Swalwell lacks the integrity and judgment that will be critical to restore California after 8 years of Gavin Newsom’s disastrous leadership. The latest public polling has shown that Californians are rallying to Sheriff Bianco’s campaign because they know they need a sheriff as their next Governor,” the spokesperson said.

The Daily Signal reached out to the Swalwell campaign, the Porter campaign, and the Hilton campaign, but did not receive comment upon publication.