On April 13, 2026, The then-current democratic candidate for California governor, Eric Swalwell, dropped out of the race following multiple recent sexual misconduct allegations.

Swalwell has had one of the biggest political downfalls of recent years. He went from a swiftly rising politician, and soon to be the governor of one of America’s most populous nation, with support from tons of people and politicians alike, to abandoning his campaign in a rush, within the span of a few days.

There are multiple stories of him drugging raping, and women along with sending them unsolicited nude photos and touching women inappropriately. And despite Swalwell repeatedly denying all of these allegations of sexual assault, he has still quickly lost support from many of his followers,

According to a CNN article, Swalwell says “I am deeply sorry to my family, staff and constituents for mistakes in judgement I’ve made in my past, I will fight the serious false allegation made against me. However, I must take responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I did make”. And in the same article his campaign communications director says “This false, outrageous rumor is being spread 27 days before an election begins by flailing opponents who have sadly teamed up with MAGA conspiracy theorists because they know Eric Swalwell is the frontrunner in this race,” (April 13 2026, Grayer, Ferris). 

However, while Swalwell’s team says that this is a MAGA attack or was done out of political competition, Fodor, one of the women who claims to have been sexually assaulted by Swalwell, says in a Politico article that “People were saying, ‘They’re paid. This is [backed by] a billionaire. This is Roger Stone. This is MAGA. In the end, it was three women in a group chat trying everything in our power. It really has just been us.” (April 13 2026, Mason, White).