Rep. Eric Swalwell (D – CA) is a problem for a lot of people. The specific problem depends on who you are talking to.
Swallwell is a seven term House member, currently representing California’s eminently Democrat-safe 14th congressional district.
In my opinion (which, I assure you, is held by a great many others), he is a nasty, abrasive, dishonest jerk – thus, I assume, a problem to constituents who share these views. But he is also a problem to California Democrats in general.
Why? Because Swalwell has decided to run for Governor of California. And that creates two problems.
One is that it is a crowded Democrat field. So crowded, in fact, that, according to some (not all) polls, the split of Democrat votes among the candidates has caused two Republicans – Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco – are leading in primary voting. Since, in California, the top two candidates are on the ballot, if that were to hold, solidly-Democrat California would have two Republicans running for Governor.
But it is likely that several of the minor Democrat candidates will drop out (I assure you maximum pressure will be put on them to do so), which should resolve this issue.
Now let’s get to the biggest problem.
Swalwell is currently leading among Democrats, thus most likely to be their choice on primary day. But….he might not legally be able to run.
Huh?
Here’s why, via excerpts from Josh Koehn’s article for the New York Post (the bold print is mine):
Rep. Eric Swalwell’s claims about living in a rented California home have raised “red flags” among members of the state Democratic Party after multiple neighbors at his supposed home of nine years have never seen or met him.
The Democrat frontrunner for Governor claims he’s lived since 2017 with another family in a 1,350-square-foot Livermore home owned by the sister-in-law of his political mentor, Tim Sbranti.
But five neighbors failed to identify Swalwell on Wednesday when The Post showed them a picture of the congressman and identified him by name.
State law requires a candidate for California governor to be a resident for five years immediately preceding the election, and residency is generally defined as a fixed place where a person lives and intends to remain.
Swalwell is married with three children and his family lives in a $1.2 million home in Washington, D.C., and he allegedly rents a room in the home on Michell Court as a place to stay when back in the district.
Lee Fink, an Orange County attorney who worked in the Obama administration and now serves as a delegate for the California Democratic Party, told The Post on Thursday that Swalwell’s residency issues have become “a big concern for us Democrats.”
“There’s red flags all over the place — that his neighbors don’t know he’s there suggests that he’s not actually there,” Fink said.
If Eric Swalwell is not a legal resident of California he cannot legally be its Governor.
Will California Democrats, who run the show in that state, devise some kind of machination to pretend Swalwell really is a resident? Maybe. But it will stink from here to the nearest garbage dump, and would certainly be challenged in the courts.
So: is Eric Swalwell a problem for California Democrats? You tell me.
