California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) issued a proclamation on Tuesday setting the date for a special election to fill the remainder of former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s (D-Calif.) term for Aug. 18.
Swalwell resigned from Congress earlier Tuesday after a flurry of reporting from the San Francisco Chronicle and CNN late last week alleged that the congressman, once seen as the Democratic front-runner in the California governor’s race, had sexually assaulted a former aide.
CNN also reported that several other women had accused Swalwell of sexual misconduct. Another woman, Lonna Drewes, came forward with new allegations Tuesday, alleging that the former lawmaker drugged, raped and choked her.
The former congressman has denied the allegations, calling them false. However, Swalwell made the decision Sunday to suspend his campaign for California governor as a number of allies and organizations who had backed him in the race quickly rescinded their endorsements.
“I am suspending my campaign for Governor. To my family, staff, friends, and supporters, I am deeply sorry for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past,” Swalwell wrote on the social platform X on Sunday. “I will fight the serious, false allegations that have been made — but that’s my fight, not a campaign’s.”
Responding to Drewes’s new allegations Tuesday, an attorney for Swalwell pushed back against the accusations.
“Congressman Eric Swalwell categorically and unequivocally denies each and every allegation of sexual misconduct and assault that has been leveled against him,” Sara Azari, Swalwell’s attorney, said in a statement Tuesday, adding he would be pursuing “every available legal remedy.”
Ansari is also a legal analyst for The Hill’s sister network, NewsNation.
California places all candidates running for office on the same ballot, regardless of party affiliation. The top two vote-getters in the June 16 special primary will advance to the August general election if no candidate outright wins half the vote during the June primary.
Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) is also resigning from the House effective on Tuesday at 11:59 p.m. after admitting to an affair with a former staffer who later died by suicide. A special election for Gonzales’s seat in the 23rd Congressional District has not been announced yet.
