With the floodgates of allegations against Eric Swalwell open, several D.C. insiders began piling on this weekend, describing the California congressman and gubernatorail candidate as a “serial womanizier” and “sociopathic” on social media.
After Swalwell was accused of sexual misconduct and assult by four women last week in interviews cited by the Chronicle and CNN, Reps. Byron Daniels and Pramila Jayapal both called for Swalwell’s resignation on Sunday morning’s “Meet the Press.” On Saturday, Swalwell’s staffers circulated a letter saying they were “horrified” by the allegations.
By Sunday, activist Charlotte Clymer wrote that it’s “been a pretty open secret in D.C. for years that Eric Swalwell is a serial womanizer.”
“It’s sociopathic that Eric Swalwell hasn’t dropped out of the race yet – which I guess fits with the behavior he’s been accused of, for which there’s ample evidence to support,” wrote “Pod Save America” Jon Favreau on X.
Clymer also accused Swalwell of having potentially hit on hundreds, if not thousands, of women in the city.
“This is all to say that Swalwell was pretty widely known as a serial womanizer years ago, and if you’re using a bit of common sense here, you can make a reasonable distinction between a grown man who’s an inelegant horndog but still acting ethically and a grown man who treats women like disposable collectibles and leverages his position of power to ‘collect’ them,” she added.
Democratic strategist Adam Parkhomenko, whose wife Ally Sammarco is one of Swalwell’s accusers, has shared several messages in recent days about the Congressman.
“I wish the best for his family, and I hope he gets the help he needs. But if Eric Swalwell or his attorney makes a single statement that disparages my wife, I will be filing a lawsuit against him,” he wrote in one shared on X. “I’ve already made clear that if he believes anything I’ve said is untrue, he should sue me immediately. As he considers his next steps in the coming days, he should be very careful about what he chooses to say. He should also resign immediately.”
Sammarco later added, “I just want to make one final point tonight. A number of women received cease-and-desist letters from Eric Swalwell. My wife did not. Every woman involved, except my wife who went on the record, has remained anonymous. So here’s the question no one can ignore: how did he know who to send those letters to if they were anonymous?”
Journalist and activist Nomiki Konst said she was once approached by Swalwell.
“I showed disinterest & like many others, heard stories,” she shared on X. “Which makes me wonder why House leadership (who most certainly knew), continued to protect a member w/out looking into it. And how pathological of him to pressure and allegedly SA subordinates & think he was protected?”
Shawn VanDiver, who founded #AfghanEvac, admitted, “I owe an apology to every person I introduced to Eric Swalwell over the years. The rumors about him weren’t new. They had been circulating for a long time, and many people were aware of them.”
“I should have listened more carefully to the people who warned me,” VanDiver also wrote. “I regret not taking those concerns more seriously, and I regret the role I played in lending him credibility.”
“I am going to say this very slowly, it’s coming out that Eric Swalwell would discuss his conquests to fellow House members and former house members that he considered ‘good friends, best friends’, now here is why me saying this slowly matters, think long and hard before you deny it,” Democratic strategist Michael Trujillo wrote on X.
When asked why he didn’t report the accusations, Trujillo insisted he’s “called electeds, chief of staffs, union presidents, Dem party leaders, like literally I’ve done so much to get this out, but until a victim tells their story folks just assume I’m pushing some intense rumor.”
Retired Navy intelligence officer Travis Akers said he’s met Swalwell several times — and insisted the alleged victims should be believed. “For the sake of those women, for a nation already in turmoil, and for basic integrity in public service, Eric must immediately withdraw from the California governor’s race and resign from Congress,” Akers wrote on X. “Accountability matters to me no matter who you are, even those I have supported and stood by for years.”
