I live in California, and I’ve watched as Gavin Newsom has continued to fail upward, moving from San Francisco mayor to lieutenant governor to two terms as governor, all despite an epic record of incompetence that has left the state unaffordable and plagued by crime and homelessness.
Even though I’ve witnessed that, I’m still frankly gobsmacked about the latest candidate topping some polls for the gubernatorial election (Newsom will be termed out and can’t run again): Rep. Eric Swalwell (CA-14). If there were ever a guy not ready for prime time, it’s him. He’s known more for juvenile, cringeworthy tweets and attempts to prove his machismo than for anything he’s ever accomplished.
Sometimes, reality is a strange thing:
A new Emerson College Polling/Inside California Politics survey of the June primary for Governor finds Congressman Eric Swalwell leading the open primary with 17%, followed by Steve Hilton (13%), Tom Steyer (11%), Chad Bianco (11%), and Katie Porter (8%). A quarter of voters, 25%, are undecided.
Seriously?
So the congressman — who only seems to play on X all day with the most cringe videos ever produced — has two 45 pound weights on the sides of a 45 pound bar, which equals a press of 135 pounds total.
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) July 30, 2025
This is basically what a freshman football player can easily do 15 reps of… https://t.co/1wu6xWrr1B
The jungle primary will be held in June, and the top two finishers will move on to the general election in November. Republicans Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco are polling surprisingly well, given that the state is as blue as the Pacific Ocean. In fact, many polls show that Hilton leads the pack, not Swalwell.
As Lloyd Christmas (Jim Carrey) famously mused in Dumb and Dumber, “So you’re saying there’s a chance?”
But Swalwell has a few hills to climb on his desired journey to Sacramento. His deep-pocketed rival, former presidential candidate and billionaire investor Tom Steyer, is alleging that Mr. Macho doesn’t even live in the state:
In a letter Thursday, Steyer’s attorney, Ryan Hughes called Swalwell, D-Dublin, a California resident “on paper only,” noting the Democrat purchased a home in Washington D.C. and is registered to vote in a Livermore home he doesn’t own. Hughes urged California Secretary of State Shirley Weber to reconsider the office’s stance, dating at least as far back as 2018, that the state constitution’s five-year residency requirement “violates the U.S. Constitution and is unenforceable.”
“If elected, questions of legitimacy would hang over Swalwell, allowing the Trump Administration to sow doubt, exploit the ambiguity, and advance its perverse agendas,” Hughes said in the letter, which was first reported by Politico.
.@ericswalwell "refutes" challenges to California residency by proving he *rents a room* from someone linked to his staff. He owns a home in the DC area. It might be a better look to own in California (or at least rent a whole apt), and rent a room in DC. https://t.co/souhlHxohg
— Joel Pollak (@joelpollak) March 11, 2026
Swalwell purchased a $1.2 million home in the D.C. area in 2020 and says he rents his California residence. We’ll just have to see if Steyer can make any headway with this issue, but in the meantime, the billionaire might want to focus his attacks on this: Swalwell doesn’t actually appear to do the job he was elected to do, so there’s no reason to believe he’d show up to the office as governor.
NEW: Rep. Eric Swalwell, who’s running for California governor, has missed the most floor votes of any active member of the House, according to an analysis by The Post.
— Mike Netter (@nettermike) December 17, 2025
He’s even missed more votes than Arizona Rep. Raúl Grijalva, who DIED in March. THINK ABOUT THAT
Meanwhile,… pic.twitter.com/dzzPK8HBxk
Meanwhile, the celeb-obsessed pol has missed votes to announce his campaign on Jimmy Kimmel’s show & attend a “White Lotus” HBO premiere. He’s received generous donations from Hollywood A-listers, including $15K from Sean Penn and $10K from Robert De Niro, per campaign records.
Donations from bug-eyed wacktivist actors Sean Penn and Robert De Niro, huh? That tells you pretty much everything you need to know about Swalwell.
Editor’s Note: California is the poster child for everything that is wrong with the Democrat Party and the “progressive” movement.
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