Since joining Congress in January 2013, Rep. Eric Swalwell has become a familiar face on cable news shows. The California lawmaker, among 25 Democrats seeking their party’s 2020 nomination, has virtually camped out in the studios of MSNBC, CNN, and Fox to opine on the news of the day and, in particular, hurl charges at President Trump.
Still, Swalwell, 38, will be among the lesser-known Democratic candidates on the second-night debate stage. The 10 participants include former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, and Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana. He’s like to have precious few moments to break out and separate himself from the debate pack.
Swalwell is a player in some of the most partisan fights on Capitol Hill. As a member of the House Intelligence and House Judiciary committees, he’s among only three in his chamber to have viewed most of the Mueller report’s unredacted sections. Swalwell, a frequent critic of Trump, has called for the incumbent’s impeachment.
Swalwell is also a vocal advocate of gun control. That’s not much different than the other two-dozen Democratic presidential candidates, but Swalwell is making it a centerpiece of his campaign. His eight-part gun plan calls for banning and buying back semi-automatic weapons, investing in psychiatrists and social workers for school districts, and significantly increasing background checks, among other limits on buying guns.
An Iowa native, Swalwell grew up in Northern California and earned his undergraduate and law degrees at the University of Maryland. He returned home to the West Coast to serve as a local prosecutor and then in a stint on the Dublin City Council.
He showed serious political chops in 2012, the first time California used a “jungle” or “top-two” primary to defeat a fellow Democrat who had been in Congress for 40 years.
Swalwell is married to Brittany Ann Watts, a sales director at the Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay, California, since October 2016. The couple has two young kids.
