Eric Swalwell. Bloomberg.
Two Congressmen, Democrat Eric Swalwell and Republican Tony Gonzales, have resigned from congress after separate sex scandals. Bloomberg. Swalwell had been accused of raping a drunk woman and additional sexual misconduct by four other women. Gonzales, a married father of six, had an affair with a staffer who then killed herself. Swalwell had already dropped out of the California Governor's race while Gonzales had lost a primary contest against pro-gun Youtuber Brandon Herrera. Both men risked expulsion if they had not resigned as momentum was budling to expel them. Two other members of Congress, Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, who is accused of stealing pandemic relief funds, and Republican Cory Mills, who has been accused of domestic violence, may also face resignation and/or expulsion.
My Comment:
I have mixed feelings about this. As a gun rights supporter this is like Christmas, New Years and the 4th of July all mixed together. Swalwell was so deranged on this issue that he literally threatened to use nuclear weapons on gun owners if he didn't go along with his gun confiscation schemes. And Tony Gonzales was so anti-gun that Brandon Herrera almost unseated him in 2024 and was successful in doing so in 2026. Neither of these men cared about the right to keep and bear arms or the right to self defense and I am not sad to see either of them go.
But I also don't like the precedent set here. Swalwell may well indeed be a sex pest at best and a rapist at worst but none of those accusations have been tried in court and we don't even know who made the rape accusation. That's not enough to get a conviction in court and I don't think it should be enough to force Swalwell to resign, or even leave the California Governor's race.
As for Gonzales, his case was complicated by the fact that his mistress committed suicide. Had that not happened, he would just be another person who cheated on his spouse. I honestly don't think that Gonzales should be punished just because his mistress ended her life. That's tragic but I also don't think it's a good idea to send the message that if you are angry against your partner you should kill yourself to ruin his life.
Regardless, both men could have fought against this but decided it wasn't worth it. That could mean that Swalwell is guilty but it also might mean that both men know that fighting against expulsion would be an uphill battle and not worth the trouble they would face.
Politically this is going to result in a status quo ante. With both men resigning and residing in relatively safe seats, the control of the house won't change. This is another reason why I am upset about Gonzales being forced to resign. We could have had a slight advantage for a short time before Swalwell was replaced but the GOP just threw that advantage away. Gonzales wasn't a great congressman but again, why give away that advantage when he was already going to be gone in less then a year?
As for the two other members of congress, I expect that Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick will be gone soon too. The accusations against her are pretty solid, she absolutely abused her position. She took $5 million in FEMA relief funds and threw them into her congressional campaign and was found guilty on 25 out of 27 charges against her by the House Ethics Committee. It would be crazy if she wasn't forced to resign or even gets expelled if she refuses to do so.
Cory Mills is a less certain thing, but he's been accused of a whole lot. Domestic abuse, sexual misconduct, various financial crimes, abuse of office and even stolen valor. But the case against him hasn't been tried in the House Ethics Committee and are not as confirmed as the ones against McCormick. Still, he would likely be forced to resign or even be expelled if McCormick is going to leave.
Either way, I think this is more about appearances than anything else. After all, Katie Porter wasn't forced to leave the California governor's race for domestic violence, but Swalwell was. If we also kicked everyone out that cheated on their spouse, would there be any members of Congress left? Well, maybe Lindsay Graham in the Senate, but that's it. All of this just seems performative.
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