Eric Swalwell's exit adds fresh uncertainty to California governor's race

Rep. Eric Swalwell’s exit from the race for governor of California following sexual misconduct allegations has scrambled what was already a crowded and unsettled contest in the country’s biggest Democratic-led state.

Rep. Eric Swalwell’s exit from the race for governor of California following sexual misconduct allegations has scrambled what was already a crowded and unsettled contest in the country’s biggest Democratic-led state.

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Swalwell, who announced Monday night that he was resigning from Congress, was one of the top-polling Democrats, alongside former Rep. Katie Porter and billionaire activist Tom Steyer, in a race that has lacked a clear front-runner. Now that Swalwell has dropped out — and with ballots already printed and going out in the mail for early voting in just over three weeks — Democrats are aggressively jockeying to consolidate support ahead of a rapidly approaching top-two, all-party primary.

“The Swalwell news upends a race that was already upended. Porter and Steyer seemingly stand the most to gain, but there are a lot of undecided,” said Ted Lempert, a former Democratic assemblyman in California who teaches political science at the University of California, Berkeley.