How Did California Democrats Let Eric Swalwell Get This Far, Anyway?

They surely knew about his misconduct ages ago. And more broadly, California Democrats aren’t doing their party any favors.

I started hearing the swirling Eric Swalwell rumors a couple of weeks ago. There were stories coming, and they were going to be bad. Well they came, all right–and they were very bad indeed. The excellent San Francisco Chronicle article detailing Swalwell’s alleged sexual assaults against one former staffer was simply appalling to read. The aide charges that Swalwell got her drunk and took advantage of her more than once. 

Swalwell is from California, but one of these incidents allegedly happened in Manhattan, where the district attorney is bringing criminal charges. CNN found three more women making similar allegations. It’s sickening. Late Sunday, Swalwell bowed to the inevitable and announced he was ending his campaign. It appears that he may well be expelled from the House this week. Good. 

How on earth do men who engage in this kind of behavior think they can get away with it? How in the world does he think he can seek higher office—the governorship of the largest state in the union—without this coming out? He ran for governor with a bomb strapped to his chest. It boggles the mind. Except that, well, most men who do this sort of thing do get away with it, don’t they? It’s still terrifying for most women to come forward, risking their young careers in a field they love. That makes it harder to report these stories—again, we must give enormous credit to the Chron for locking this down. Men who know the system and work it to their advantage are just scum. House Democrats need to vote en masse to kick Swalwell to the curb.

A number of commentators, our Perry Bacon among them, had observed previously on what a train wreck the California’s governor’s race had become. Eight Democrats are running, and they threaten to split the Democratic vote enough to potentially enable a Republican, and a Trumpy Republican........

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