Former U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell's sudden exit from the California governor's race due to sexual assault and harassment allegations may seem like bad news for Democrats, but it comes with a significant silver lining: a reduced risk that only Republicans will emerge from the state's June 2 nonpartisan primary.
Due to the Golden State's unusual election system, in which the top two finishers, regardless of party, advance to the November general election, liberal voters have been split between eight candidates, while Republicans have focused on two contenders, former Fox News host Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco.
As a result, some polls showed Hilton and Bianco leading the field in the overwhelmingly Democratic state. The same polls, such as one released on March 18 by UC Berkeley, had Swalwell in third. If his supporters are now redistributed across the left side of the field, the two progressive challengers who trailed him by just a few percentage points − billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer and former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter − will stand a better chance of advancing past the primary.
"I think the rapid bottoming out for Swalwell does fundamentally shake up the race," said David McCuan, a veteran political science professor at Sonoma State University. "He was gaining traction. The momentum was going in his favor, and then he was hit by a tsunami."
