Eric Swalwell enters 2020 fray

Referring to threats from abroad and efforts to make life better for Americans, Swalwell said, “None of that is going to change until we get a leader who’s willing to go big on the issues that we take on, be bold in the solutions we offer, and do good in the way that we govern. I’m ready to solve these problems, I’m running for president of the United States.”

The member of the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees became a cable news fixture during special counsel Robert Mueller’s federal Russia investigation, joking on Twitter that he accepts offers to appear on Fox News so he can “brief” President Trump. His ubiquitous presence on TV has earned him a number of fans, including singer and actress Cher, who suggested in December that Swalwell could be Joe Biden’s running mate should the former vice president run for the White House.

His growing national profile, however, has also opened him up to mockery, such as when social media pundits skewered him over a photo he tweeted about his boycott of a coffee shop inside New York’s Trump Tower in protest of the current commander in chief and over his choice of spiky, bleached hair as captured in a viral high school yearbook photo.

Swalwell, who visited a slew of early voting states before the 2018 midterm elections and this year as he openly mulled his presidential ambitions, will appear in Sunrise, Fla., on Tuesday for a town hall on gun control. The event’s location is close to Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 people died last February after a lone gunman opened fire with an AR-15-style rifle. Swalwell will then hold town halls in Iowa on Thursday and South Carolina on Friday, before traveling to Nevada and New Hampshire next week.

The third-term congressman is a vocal proponent of gun control measures, advocating for an assault weapons ban and a buy-back program. But he quickly drew scrutiny last November for tweeting that a “war” against gun owners would be “short” because the federal government has access to nuclear weapons.

“Don’t be so dramatic,” he wrote to his critics. “No one is nuking anyone or threatening that. I’m telling you this is not the 18th Century. The argument that you would go to war with your government if an assault weapons ban was in place is ludicrous and inflames the gun debate. Which is what you want.”

Swalwell’s announcement comes on the heels of fellow incumbent congressman, Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio, last week launching his bid for the presidency. Swalwell and Ryan join Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, as well as former Reps. Beto O’Rourke of Texas and John Delaney of Maryland, in taking the unconventional step of seeking the Oval Office from the House of Representatives. The primary field is now at more than a dozen candidates.