Democrats already had a lot to worry about in the 2026 California governor's race, an election they would typically expect to win easily: Too many candidates. Low name recognition. Voter apathy.
Then on Sunday, their leading candidate, Representative Eric Swalwell, faced with allegations of sexual assault and misconduct, dropped out of the contest, even as he denied the accusations. His exit threw the Democrats into further chaos and left the party facing a previously unthinkable possibility: could Republicans shut them entirely out of the general election in one of the bluest states in the US?
"This would be an unforced error of historic proportions if Democrats fail to coordinate so badly that a Republican wins in a state where Donald Trump's approval rating is a little less than 30%," said Eric Schickler, a political science professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
The San Francisco Chronicle and CNN last week published allegations by several women about Swalwell's conduct, leading his most prominent backers to abandon him.
On Monday, Swalwell announced he would resign from Congress, hours after the US House of Representatives Ethics Committee opened an investigation. Swalwell has apologised for the "mistakes in judgement I've made in my past" but vowed to "fight the serious, false allegations that have been made".
