The Brief

Public officials across California are contemplating what to do with dozens of streets, parks and libraries named in honor of civil rights icon Cesar Chavez in the wake of allegations he sexually assaulted two girls and a woman decades ago.

The allegations surfaced in an investigation by the New York Times published earlier this week that sent shock waves across the country.

Chavez, who was head of the United Farm Workers union, is widely recognized as one of the most influential labor leaders in U.S. history, known for founding the union and for leading national boycotts of grapes to improve working conditions for farmworkers.

Chavez died in 1993.

Many state and local leaders, including L.A.’s mayor and county supervisors, suggested changing the Cesar Chavez holiday on March 31 to Farm Workers Day. March 31 was Chavez’s birthday.

In Sacramento on Thursday, Democratic leaders of the state Legislature said they would push for such a change.

“The farmworker movement was never ever about one man,” Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas said at a news conference. “It was built by tens of thousands of workers. People who labored in the fields, people who organized, people who sacrificed and who stood up when it was hard.

“We have a responsibility to remember the movement and to move it forward with integrity.”

Also on Thursday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass signed a proclamation renaming the city's Cesar Chavez Day holiday as “Farm Workers Day.” The city recognizes the holiday on the last Monday of March.

“I grew up as a child admiring the farmworker movement,'' Bass said. “I didn't think I was ever going to eat grapes again because my family boycotted grapes.”

The grape strike, organized in part by Chavez, lasted five years from 1965 to 1970.

Multiple allegations of sexual assault

The New York Times investigation uncovered multiple allegations that Chavez had sexually assaulted girls and women in the 1960s and ‘70s, when he was head of United Farm Workers, including union co-founder Dolores Huerta.

Huerta, now 95, told the Times the rape and sexual assault resulted in pregnancies that she kept secret. Huerta said she gave the children up for adoption after birth.

In a statement, Huerta said in part: “... for the last 60 years [I] have kept a secret because I believed that exposing the truth would hurt the farmworker movement I have spent my entire life fighting for.”

Bass said Thursday she met Chavez once and “thought it was an opportunity of a lifetime.” She said her heart “broke” this week when she heard the allegation that Chávez had raped Huerta.

The mayor said renaming the holiday would allow people “to reflect on how the struggle of farmworkers has elevated working people everywhere.”

She added that the city would need to consider changing the names of buildings, streets and other things named in honor of Chavez.

For example, Cesar Chavez Avenue runs through the heart of the Boyle Heights neighborhood. Several murals of Chavez dot the city.

Bass said she had been in contact with Chavez's family, and they supported her action.

The mayor was joined at the proclamation signing by Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, who said in a statement that the farmworker movement has always been about the power of the people, “especially the women whose labor built it and too often went unseen."

“As we honor that legacy, we also have a responsibility to tell the truth about harm and stand with survivors,” Hernandez said.

Councilmember Ysabel Jurado also attended the news conference. She said the movement doesn’t belong to one person.

“Farm Workers Day honors the workers, families and organizers still in the fields and still fighting for fair wages, safe conditions and dignity,” the statement from Jurado read. “And it recognizes that this movement is carried forward every single day by people whose names we may never know but whose impact continues to define the spirit of Los Angeles.”

Other cities and counties 

Many other cities and counties are considering wiping Chávez's name from public spaces.

L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis said she would introduce a motion looking at renaming the county’s Cesar Chavez holiday.

Supervisor Janice Hahn suggested the county consider renaming Chavez day “Farm Worker Day.”

“For those of us who grew up admiring the farmworker movement, today's news is heartbreaking,'' Hahn said in a statement Wednesday. "But as in any other civil rights movement, men were only half the story. The abuses of one man will never diminish the extraordinary sacrifices, accomplishments, and legacy of the women of the farmworker movement.

“It's time we put them first.”

The process for renaming streets and other public structures varies from city to city and school district to school district. It could take months before many cities move to erase Chávez's name from public spaces.

You can follow your city council agenda to keep up with what’s going on, or better yet, reach out to your representatives on the council and county Board of Supervisors to make your voice heard on the issue.

The U.S. military will block ships from entering or exiting Iranian ports on Monday after the U.S. and Iran failed to reach an agreement in direct talks over the weekend.

The U.S. Central Command, known as CENTCOM, said the blockade would be enforced from 10 a.m. Eastern Time.

"The blockade will be enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman," CENTCOM posted on social media on Sunday.

CENTCOM said it "will not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports."

President Trump said Sunday he instructed the U.S. Navy "to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran."

"No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas," he added.

The decision to block vessels entering and leaving Iranian ports came after the U.S. and Iran failed to reach an end to the war, during the direct talks that took place in Islamabad, Pakistan, over the weekend.

Israel and Hezbollah continued to trade strikes on Monday as efforts were underway for Israeli and Lebanese officials to meet in Washington for ceasefire talks.

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron announced preparations for a "peaceful multinational mission aimed at restoring freedom of navigation" in the Strait of Hormuz. He said he would be convening a conference on these plans "in the coming days" together with Britain.

Brent crude oil, the international standard, jumped to $102.24 a barrel on Monday.

Vice President Vance waves while boarding Air Force Two as he leaves Islamabad on Sunday. Vance spent 21 hours on the ground in Islamabad and stated an agreement was not made with Iran.

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Here are more updates from the region:

Click the links below to jump down to a specific section.

France and U.K. reactions | Iran on Strait of Hormuz| U.S.-Iran talks | Lebanon | U.S. warships | Iran executions

British PM says UK will not join blockade, French president proposes 'peaceful multinational mission'

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday the United Kingdom will not join President Trump's blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz. Starmer said his focus was to keep the waterway open.

Speaking to BBC Radio, Starmer said he would not go into operational matters, but that the UK's efforts would be aimed at reopening the strait.

"All of the marshalling diplomatically, politically and capability, we do have minesweeping capability… That's all focused from our point of view, on getting the straits fully open," Starmer said.

He said that was the only way to get energy bills down for people in the U.K. who, according to him, were paying the price of the war in Iran.

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that "in the coming days," France and Britain will organize a conference with "those countries prepared to contribute alongside us to a peaceful multinational mission aimed at restoring freedom of navigation" in the Strait of Hormuz.

"This strictly defensive mission, separate from the warring parties to the conflict, is intended to be deployed as soon as circumstances permit," Macron posted on X.

Iran says warships "will be met with strong" response

Trump wrote on social media on Sunday that the talks between the U.S. delegation led by Vice President Vance and the Iranian delegation failed because "IRAN IS UNWILLING TO GIVE UP ITS NUCLEAR AMBITIONS!"

Tehran has repeatedly said that its nuclear program is a civilian one, and that it has a right to continue to enrich uranium for that purpose.

In a series of posts on social media on Sunday, Iran's military spokesman, Ebrahim Zolfaghari, said "warships nearing the Strait of Hormuz will be met with a strong and decisive response."

Zolfaghari also threatened to block the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, in response to U.S. action. The waterway is tucked between Yemen and the Horn of Africa, connecting the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea to the Suez Canal.

Last week's ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran had minimal impact on the movement of goods through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran had largely shut down the strait to commercial vessels and in some cases demanded steep tolls for ships to pass. The decision by the Trump administration to block Iran's ports is likely to further heighten tensions and exacerbate fuel shortages worldwide.

Nearly 20% of the global supply of oil and gas normally moves through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has largely blocked since the joint U.S. and Israeli strikes against it began on Feb. 28.

Commuters wait on the platform for their metro train to arrive in the capital Tehran on April 13, 2026.

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Atta Kenare

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U.S. and Iran talks fail, sides signal they are far apart on nuclear enrichment

The U.S. and Iran failed to reach an agreement in highly anticipated face-to-face peace talks that took place over the weekend in Islamabad. On Sunday, after 21 hours of talks, Vice President Vance said Iran chose "not to accept our terms."

Asked what the major sticking point had been that led to the breakdown in negotiations, Vance said: "The simple fact is that we need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon, and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon."

For its part, Iran said the two sides had "reached an understanding on a number of issues, but ultimately the talks did not lead to an agreement."

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghachi, a member of the Iranian negotiating team, said Sunday his country "engaged with (the) U.S. in good faith to end the war," adding that when the two sides were close to reaching an understanding, "we encountered maximalism, shifting goalposts, and blockade."

The status of the two-week ceasefire, which extends until April 22, is now uncertain. But Vance left open the possibility that an agreement could still be reached, saying: "We leave here with a very simple proposal: a method of understanding that is our final and best offer." He added: "We'll see if the Iranians accept it."

The talks in Islamabad were the first face-to-face engagement between the U.S. and Iran since 2015, when the Obama administration negotiated a nuclear deal with Iran that was later scrapped by Trump. They were also the highest-level discussions since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

In a Fox News interview on Sunday, Trump doubled down in his stance that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon, and said he believes Iran will "come to the table" and give up its nuclear weapons efforts. Asked if he will continue to "destruct" Iran if they don't give up their nuclear weapons program, Trump said: "If they don't give that plan up, yeah."

On Saturday, Trump said "We win, regardless" of the outcome of negotiations, adding, "we've totally defeated that country."

US warships pass through Strait of Hormuz

As the talks between the U.S. and Iran were underway, two U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, a U.S. official told NPR, marking the first transit of American warships since the start of the Iran war six weeks ago.

CENTCOM said it had begun setting conditions to clear Iranian sea mines planted throughout the waterway to "encourage the free flow of commerce."

Israel and Hezbollah continue to trade strikes

Attacks continued in Lebanon on Monday as Israeli airstrikes hit border villages that Israel says is it seizing from Lebanon, in order to create a buffer zone to prevent militant group Hezbollah from firing cross-border rockets.

Lebanese authorities said more than 100 people were killed over the weekend from Israeli attacks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who crossed into Lebanon on Sunday, said those displaced from southern Lebanon will not be allowed to return to their homes. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the goal of Israel's campaign is to destroy houses in the area to prevent Hezbollah from using them.

Their statements came as preparations were under way for Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to meet on Tuesday in Washington for ceasefire talks, the first direct official talks between the two countries since 1983. The talks are not supported by Hezbollah, which held a rally in Beirut over the weekend, filling several blocks of the capital.

The Lebanese government said Israel has destroyed around 40,000 houses in the past 35 days.

Lebanese Red Cross volunteers inspect the damage to their rescue ambulances at the site of an Israeli drone strike that targeted their headquarters in the southern city of Tyre on April 13, 2026.

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Kawnat Haju

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The Lebanese Red Cross said that one of its ambulance teams was directly targeted by an Israeli drone over the weekend, killing one paramedic and wounding another. The death brought the number of the medics killed to at least 57 in the past six weeks, according to Lebanese authorities. Israel denies it is targeting medics and accused Hezbollah of transporting weapons in ambulances.

Human rights groups say Iran increased executions

At least 1,639 people were executed in Iran in 2025, according to a joint report by the Norwegian organization Iran Human Rights and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty.

According to the two watchdogs, the figure represents an increase of 68% over the previous year.

A wave of arrests and executions followed the country-wide protests that started in December of 2025 and trailed into January.

Mass arrests have also been regularly reported in Iran's state media since the start of the war, with authorities accusing those it rounds up of having ties to Israel or aiding terrorist groups.

Betsy Joles in Islamabad, Lauren Frayer in Beirut, D Parvaz in Van, Turkey, Fatima Al-Kassab in London and Tina Kraja in Washington, DC contributed to this report.

Copyright 2026 NPR

I recently had the excruciatingly painful experience of being stung by a stingray while swimming at Bolsa Chica State Beach. It was my second time being stung, so as soon as I felt the familiar stab in the bottom of my foot, dread arose. But at least this time I knew what to do.

I hollered at my friend in the water — “I got hit by a stingray!”

Ironically, I’d just been telling her about the “stingray shuffle” — the strategy to shuffle your feet as you enter the water and therefore scare any nearby stingrays away.

I swam as fast as I could to the sand and sprinted to the nearest lifeguard tower. Already, the pain was sharp in my foot, and I could feel it pulsing up my leg, growing more intense. I took deep breaths and tried to keep my face stoic.

Now, you lucky folks who have never been stung may be smirking at my desperation. But if you know, you know — a stingray’s sting is no joke.

A kind lifeguard wrapped my bleeding foot in gauze and drove me in his pickup truck to the main tower. When we got there, I hopped into a painfully comedic scene: About 10 other sorry souls sat in a semicircle of chairs, each with one foot in a bucket full of scalding water.

We passed around a hose of hot water, taking turns refilling our buckets as soon as the water started to cool. You have to keep the temperature as hot as you can tolerate, to neutralize the venom and stave off the pain. There were so many stings that day that lifeguards handed out shiny bags of hot water when they ran out of buckets.

As I waited for my pain to fully subside — it can take more than an hour of soaking in hot water — I watched as a steady stream of people came and went for their stings.

A young teen, bawling, was consoled by her frantic dad. Others sat silently, grimacing occasionally as their friends or family patted their backs. When the hose with hot water was hogged by a single party too long, the rest of us grew anxious and a little desperate. Still, everyone treated each other kindly — after all, misery loves company.

As I sat with my own foot in a bucket of hot water, I had time to wonder: Why are so many people getting stung? And has it always been this way?

Bags that lifeguards hand out for stingray victims in need of soaking their feet in hot water.

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Erin Stone

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Fewer predators, more stingrays

We have four types of stingrays in Southern California waters — bat rays, diamond rays, butterfly rays and round stingrays.

“The round stingray is the one that most people come to know and love at their local beaches, because they're the most abundant, and they're the ones that people accidentally step on the most and get stung by,” said Chris Lowe, director of the Shark Lab at Cal State Long Beach.

Round stingrays come into contact with our feet because they forage on the sea floor for clams, crabs, isopods and small fish. They hide from predators under the sand while they digest. Understandably, they strongly dislike being stepped on, especially with a full belly. I don’t blame ‘em.

Round stingrays range from Panama up to Santa Barbara County — the northern tip of their range. Over the last hundred years, their populations have been growing steadily, largely because we killed off many of their predators, such as sea lions, white sharks and sea bass, last century.

A round stingray (Urolophus halleri) in an aquarium.

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Now, thanks to conservation efforts and improved fishing practices, many of those predators are making a comeback.

“As a result of those predator populations coming back, we expect the round stingray population to get tamped down a little bit,” Lowe said.

Stingrays or “white shark pancakes,” Lowe joked, are “the first food we think the juvenile white sharks that hang out off our beaches really take advantage of.”

More people, more stings

At the same time, coastal development over the last 100 years has destroyed much of the habitat that stingrays prefer, such as lagoons and estuaries, which have calm, shallow warm water and sediment to hide under. Now, the habitat available to them is primarily coastal beaches.

“That puts a lot more people in the path of what we call prime round stingray habitat,” Lowe said.

In January, officials at Huntington Beach warned beachgoers of an uptick in stingray activity. Down the road in Seal Beach, a popular surf spot has long been known as “Ray Bay.”

Here in Southern California, estimates are that lifeguards treat more than 10,000 stings a year, Lowe said. That’s likely a very conservative estimate, he added, since many people don’t seek treatment.

The climate change effect

Climate change is increasingly playing a role in stingray life too, Lowe said, by warming waters that historically have been too cool for them to survive.

Over the last 200 years, human society has pumped an unprecedented level of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which is heating up the planet. The ocean has been our main buffer to the worst effects of that pollution — it absorbs about 30% of all carbon dioxide emissions and about 90% of the excess heat generated by those emissions, according to NASA.

The marine heat wave known as "the blob" at its near maximum areal extent in September 2014, left. At right, the ongoing marine heat wave at its near maximum areal extent in September 2025.

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That’s not only changing the chemical composition of the ocean, but also driving worsening marine heatwaves or “blobs,” which can lead to mass die-offs of marine life. In fact, we’ve been in a record-breaking marine heat wave since last summer.

“The pattern at which these marine heat waves are increasing is clearly an indicator of climate change,” Lowe said. “So these are all real true harbingers of climate change, and we're seeing the animals that live in these environments respond to these conditions.”

Human-caused climate change is making marine heat waves more extreme and frequent. his graph depicts the increasing surface area of marine heat wave anomalies in the California Current region from 1982 to the present.

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Though they can withstand only so much heat, stingrays prefer temperate, subtropical waters.

“As the ocean continues to warm, that range gets pushed farther north, which means the habitat in Southern California just becomes even more pleasant to the round stingray,” Lowe said.  

Over the last 50 years, round stingrays have had periodic pulses as far north as Monterey. And with an El Niño weather pattern likely year this year,  ”we might start seeing animals even farther north,” Lowe said.

Warmer waters may sound good for stingrays, but it’s not a great sign for the health of the ocean. Last year’s extreme marine heat wave led to massive algae blooms that sickened and poisoned marine wildlife.

Two big cultural spots in L.A. are going to be closed for a while — the La Brea Tar Pits and the Getty Center are both about to undergo extensive renovations ahead of the 2028 Olympics. So it’s a good thing we have all these new spaces opening, like LACMA’s David Geffen Galleries, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, and Dataland, to keep us occupied. Kudos on the smart timing, arts administration friends!

Whether you’re recovering from Coachella or heading out for weekend two or neither, there’s plenty of music in town this week. Licorice Pizza recommends outlaw country legend Dale Watson at Zebulon on Monday, while on Tuesday, Lykke Li is at the Fonda and Herbie Hancock plays Disney Hall. On Wednesday, local heroes Redd Kross bring their "peach kelli pop" to the Lodge Room, Swae Lee plays the Novo, Wet Leg catches these fists at the Fox Theater Pomona, coldwave duo Lebanon Hanover plays their first of two nights at the Vermont Hollywood and Grammy-winning jazz diva Samara Joy plays the first of two nights at Blue Note.

Elsewhere on LAist, you can get the latest on Olympics ticket drops, find out how you can help the Aquarium of the Pacific save a beloved sea turtle and check out the best empanadas across L.A.

Events

English

Through Sunday, April 26
The Wallis 
9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills
COST: FROM $53; MORE INFO 

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KEVIN PARRY

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The Pulitzer Prize-winning play English, by Orange County’s own Sanaz Toossi, is clever, poignant and utterly original. The play is set in a TOEFL class in Tehran in 2008, where a sparse classroom serves as the setting for an intergenerational, cross-cultural conversation that explores the feelings of being an outsider while considering and reconsidering what is home. The show is almost entirely in English; in a genius move, the actors seamlessly use their fluent, comfortable American accents when “speaking” Farsi and more stilted English when in the classroom. Knud Adams directs the production, which comes to the Wallis straight from Broadway and stars most of the original cast.

Punk for the People, Vol. 2: Punk Movements

Tuesday, April 14, 7 p.m.
Bovard Auditorium
3551 Trousdale Parkway, University Park
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

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Eventbrite

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NYC sometimes gets all the credit for being the home of punk rock, but L.A.’s punk history is loud and clear. Fans won’t want to miss this free panel with USC’s Visions and Voices, featuring punk legend Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill, queercore icon Bruce LaBruce, filmmaker and AfroPunk Festival founder James Spooner and Limp Wrist singer Martin Sorrondeguy.

Kenny Harris

Through Saturday, May 2
Billis/Williams Gallery 
2716 S. La Cienega Blvd., Culver City
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

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Kenny Harris

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Billis/Williams Gallery

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I know I’m a little biased, having lived in Venice all these years, but Kenny Harris’ paintings make my little neighborhood feel dreamy, historic and real all at once. This solo show at Billis/Williams Gallery in Culver City is just a stone's throw from the real-life beach and canal scenes that Harris so lovingly depicts.

Going to Extremes: A John Waters 80th Birthday Celebration 

Tuesday, April 14, 8 p.m.
The Luckman Fine Arts Complex at Cal State LA 
5151 State University Drive, Monterey Park
COST: FROM $50; MORE INFO 

John Waters brings his show “Going to Extremes” to The Luckman on April 14, 2026.

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Greg Gorman

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Weird and wonderful John Waters turns 80 this year, and if you caught the Academy Museum exhibit on his work, you won’t want to miss this live birthday extravaganza honoring Baltimore’s most out-there filmmaker. Waters himself will be there to reflect on eight decades of “gleeful provocation” and share the stories and inspirations that shaped his career.

Fowler Talks: Decolonizing Philippine History, Rethinking Ifugao and Indigeneity

Wednesday, April 15, 6 p.m.
Fowler Museum UCLA
308 Charles E. Young Dr. N., Westwood
COST: FREE; MORE INFO 

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Paul Connor

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The Fowler Museum at UCLA

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The newest exhibit at the Fowler, Mountain Spirits, looks at the world of the Ifugao people in northern Luzon. It just opened this past weekend, and along with it comes a series of talks delving into Filipino culture and history. This one features archaeologist Stephen Acabado and community leader Marlon Martin exploring how rice terraces flourished as acts of resistance to colonial intrusion, highlighting agriculture, ritual exchange and environmental design as adaptive systems that continue to shape contemporary climate discourse.

Lunchtime Concerts at Colburn

Tuesdays through May 4, 12 p.m.
Colburn Plaza
200 S. Grand Ave., Downtown L.A.
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

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Courtesy Colburn School

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Your most chill lunch hour is back. Grab your sandwich and head to Colburn Plaza for free weekly classical concerts with the musicians of the Colburn School, supported by the Downtown L.A. Alliance.

American Food (R)evolution panel

Monday, April 13, 4:30 p.m.
Maydan Market
4301 W. Jefferson Blvd., West Adams 
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

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Ashley Randall Photography

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Maydan Market

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Chef Sean Sherman was a pioneer in bringing indigenous cooking into mainstream fine dining with his groundbreaking Minneapolis restaurant Owamni. Lucky for us, he’s in town for a conversation moderated by L.A. Taco’s Javier Cabral, alongside Maydan founder and chef Rose Previte, chef Alfonso “Poncho” Martinez and activist Odilia Romero of Lugya’h. They’ll discuss Sherman’s new book, Turtle Island, and the “intersection of culture, identity, and politics through the lens of food.” A dinner at Maydan (separate reservation and payment required) will follow, where Previte, Martinez and Sherman will host a one-night-only communal “Tawle” feast, featuring Maydan’s signature Middle Eastern dishes alongside special, fire-based creations from Sherman and Martinez, celebrating Indigenous American and Zapotec cuisines.

Reservations for the dinner are available here.

Eric Swalwell, who had emerged as one of the top candidates in California’s crowded governor’s race, suspended his campaign Sunday evening after a series of women accused him of sexual assault and harassment, including allegations that he raped a former staff member twice.

In the short statement posted on social media, he did not address whether he will remain in Congress.

Swalwell, a married father of three who represents the East Bay, faced swift calls to resign from his House seat and leave the governor’s race after the allegations were published by the San Francisco Chronicle and CNN on April 10. In addition to the political fallout, he’s now facing a criminal inquiry from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in New York and possibly Alameda County — where the 2024 and 2019 alleged assaults each took place.

“To my family, staff, friends, and supporters, I am deeply sorry for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past,” Swalwell said on X. “I will fight the serious, false allegations that have been made — but that’s my fight, not a campaign’s.

The reports by the Chronicle and CNN included allegations by an unnamed former staffer who said Swalwell sexually assaulted her when she was too intoxicated to consent in both 2019 and 2024. CNN also reported allegations of misconduct from three other women involved in Democratic politics, including one who said Swalwell kissed her without consent and two others who said that he sent them unsolicited nude photos and explicit text messages.

Swalwell flatly denied the allegations of sexual assault in a video he posted on social media Friday, and vowed to fight them. But he seemed to acknowledge at least some infidelity, adding that any mistakes are between him and his wife, and apologizing for “putting her in this position.”

But within hours of the stories publishing, Swalwell was abandoned by nearly all his supporters. Top House Democrats, including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, called for his exit, and he lost 21 endorsements from fellow Democratic members of Congress.

Over the weekend, senior staffers from both his congressional office and campaign resigned, and major labor groups like the California Teachers Association and SEIU California pulled their support. His campaign website no longer contains links to donate or a page listing his donations.

In a joint statement Sunday, 55 of Swalwell’s former staff members called the allegations “serious” and “credible” and urged law enforcement to investigate. They also called on Swalwell to resign from Congress and withdraw from the governor’s race, and apologized to their former colleague “for not knowing what you were enduring.”

“We believe her,” the letter states. “What has been described is not a political attack. It is the account of a young woman who trusted her employer, who was targeted and exploited by someone in a position of power over her, and who has carried this burden for years.”
Swalwell, 45, had a meteoric rise in politics — and a fall that came just as fast. A former Alameda County prosecutor, he first ran for Congress in 2011, as a 30-year old Dublin city councilmember who unseated a 20-term incumbent nearly 50 years his senior.

He rose to national prominence during President Donald Trump’s first term when he was tapped to help investigate Trump during both impeachment inquiries. The roles — as an impeachment manager during the first impeachment, and again as a House manager during the second — led to frequent appearances on cable news and made him one of the Democratic Party’s most high-profile Trump critics.

He briefly ran for president in 2019, but dropped out within months after failing to gain traction. Swalwell announced a run for governor in November, joining a crowded field to replace the termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom. Other leading Democrats include former Rep. Katie Porter and billionaire Tom Steyer, though the race had remained wide-open and a clear Democratic favorite had yet to emerge.

Over the past five months, Swalwell quickly amassed endorsements from most of his congressional colleagues, state lawmakers and some of California’s largest labor unions. They all abandoned him after the allegations were made public.