Rep. Eric Swalwell is running for re-election in Congress, despite a pledge he made in February to give up his seat if he ran for president.
Swalwell claims that he isn’t breaking his promise because of how early he is dropping out of the presidential race — and because his lawyers said it was fine.
Appearing on the It’s All Political podcast in February, Swalwell asserted that he would give up his seat because voters needed to be assured “you’re not hedging and that you don’t have a lifeboat.”
“If you decide to run for president, would you give up your seat in Congress?” asked host and San Francisco Chronicle reporter Joe Garofoli, the Free Beacon reported at the time.
“Yes,” Swalwell responded.
“You would give it up?” Garofoli asked again.
“Yes,” Swalwell responded assertively. “I think you have to.”
Yet, on Monday Swalwell announced that he will be seeking a fifth term in Congress — completely breaking his earlier pledge.
When grilled by a reporter about his broken promise, Swalwell asserted that it’s totally fine because his lawyers said so.
“I’d said that I wouldn’t seek both,” Swalwell said. “Our attorneys have told us that you could run for both. That decision wouldn’t have to come until December, and that if we were still in it in December, I wouldn’t seek both. But, you know, the polls have had their way, so here we are in July. I’m excited, as I said, to continue this work.”
Swalwell is now facing a progressive primary challenger named Aisha Wahab, whose Twitter bio asserts that she was the “first Afghan American woman elected to public office in the United States.”
