East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell announces run for California governor

East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell on Thursday became the latest Democrat to throw his hat in the ring for the 2026 governor’s race — announcing his campaign shortly before a scheduled appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

“Our state, this great state, needs a fighter and a protector,” Swalwell told Kimmel. “Someone who will bring prices down, lift wages up.”

Swalwell has been a high-profile critic of President Donald Trump, taking a leading role in Trump’s second impeachment trial in 2021 and maintaining a regular presence on cable TV. The former Alameda County prosecutor has raised money and campaigned for Democrats across the country, and he could tap those relationships as he enters what promises to be an expensive campaign for the state’s top job.

“I’ve been in these fights as a city councilmember up in Dublin, my hometown, as a prosecutor in Oakland, and taking on the most corrupt president ever in the U.S. Congress,” Swalwell said. “But I’m ready to bring this fight home.”

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Swalwell lashed out at Trump for his administration’s cuts to cancer research grants, accusing him of targeting Democratic-led states such as California.

“It’s a little personal to me…I lost my best friend two months ago, my mom passed and she passed from cancer,” he said. “People in California expect that you’re going to invest in cancer research, not cut it.”

The race to succeed termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom remains wide open less than seven months before the June primary. Former Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla both passed on running, and the special election over Proposition 50 diverted attention and fundraising away from the campaign for governor.

A poll from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies this month found 44% of voters remain undecided.

Swalwell’s views on state policy are largely undefined, and he enters the race with far less experience in the state Capitol than fellow Democratic hopefuls Xavier Becerra, the former attorney general, and Antonio Villaraigosa, who served as Assembly speaker before he was mayor of Los Angeles.

But Swalwell’s clashes with Trump and Republicans in Washington could resonate with Democratic voters looking for California leaders to spearhead a resistance to the White House.

When the House voted to impeach Trump in 2021 for inciting an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, Swalwell was tapped by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to help present the case to the Senate as an impeachment manager.

After Trump was acquitted, Swalwell sued him in civil court, arguing that the president fomented an attack that violated his civil rights and caused emotional distress. That lawsuit is ongoing in the U.S. District Court in Washington.

Last week, a top housing official in the Trump administration called for a criminal probe into Swalwell, alleging the congressman may have made false or misleading statements on mortgage documents to secure better loan terms. The accusations are similar to criminal referrals made against other Trump critics, including New York Attorney General Letitia James and Sen. Adam Schiff of California.

Swalwell has denied wrongdoing and framed the move as political retaliation, telling Kimmel the charge was “nonsense.”

“If he thinks for one second that me, Schiff… Tish James are going to hide under the bed or shrink or just go quiet, we’re not,” Swalwell said.

Born in Iowa and raised in a Republican household, Swalwell has long joked that he appears on Fox News so his parents can see him. He was the first member of his family to attend college and spent years as a prosecutor in the Alameda County district attorney’s office. Two of Swalwell’s brothers served as deputies in the county sheriff’s office.

Swalwell burst onto the political scene in 2012, when he defeated longtime incumbent Rep. Pete Stark. In Congress, Swalwell parlayed a savvy use of social media and regular appearances on cable news into a national following and a significant financial war chest. In 2018, he campaigned across the country for Democratic congressional candidates as the party won back control of the House.

A year later, Swalwell launched a long-shot presidential campaign centered on reducing gun violence, but he failed to gain traction and ended his bid after just three months.

Swalwell’s path to the governor’s office could rely on support from Bay Area voters. He and state Superintendent Tony Thurmond, a former Assembly member from Richmond, are the only candidates who have won office in the region.

Historically, Northern California has been the bedrock of high-propensity Democratic voters, although the region has supported the state’s two Los Angeles-based U.S. senators, Padilla and Schiff, in recent elections.