Both Democratic California Rep. Eric Swalwell and Republican Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales have announced their plans to resign from their seats in Congress after facing sexual misconduct allegations.
“I am deeply sorry to my family, staff, and constituents for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past,” Swalwell, 45, wrote in a statement shared to social media. “I will fight the serious, false allegation made against me. However, I must take responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I did make.”
The Democratic lawmaker said he was aware of his colleagues’ efforts to bring an immediate expulsion vote against him, but that it was wrong to do so “without due process, within days of an allegation being made.”
“But it’s also wrong for my constituents to have me distracted from my duties,” he continued. “Therefore, I plan to resign my seat in Congress.”
“I will work with my staff in the coming days to ensure they are able, in my absence, to serve the needs of the good people of the 14th congressional district.”
Sixty-five minutes later, MAGA lawmaker Tony Gonzales announced his own plans to resign from Congress.
“There is a season for everything and God has a plan for us all. When Congress returns tomorrow, I will file my retirement from office,” Gonzales, also 45, wrote in a post on X on Monday. “It has been my privilege to serve the great people of Texas.”
Less than 24 hours before sharing his plans to resign, Swalwell announced that he was suspending his gubernatorial campaign in California.
“I will fight the serious, false allegations that have been made,” he said in Sunday’s statement, “but that’s my fight, not a campaign’s.”
The allegations against the California lawmaker first came to light on Friday, after the San Francisco Chronicle published a story from a former staffer of Swalwell’s who alleged that the congressman had sexually assaulted her in a New York City hotel room in 2024.
The unnamed staff member told the newspaper she was hired by Swalwell in 2019, when she was 21, to work for his district office in Castro Valley. She claimed he messaged her nude photos on Snapchat and was seeking photos of her in return.
She stopped working for him in 2021, but said that she later met him at a charity gala in New York in 2024 and met for drinks afterward. She told the Chronicle that she had been too intoxicated to consent to the encounter.
The Chronicle reported that it corroborated the former staffer’s story by looking at text messages, analyzing medical records, and interviewing her boyfriend at the time.
Swalwell told the newspaper in a statement that the allegations were “false.”
Hours later on Friday, CNN published another report detailing the stories of three more women who accused the politician of sexual misconduct, in addition to the former staff member’s story.
One woman, a social media creator named Ally Sammarco, claimed to the outlet that she had also received unsolicited nude messages from Swalwell after she had reached out to the lawmaker on Twitter to talk about politics.
“I truly never thought he would respond - I had like 1,000 followers at the time,” she told CNN. “And he actually responded.”
The California lawmaker, who is married and has three kids, denied the allegations in a statement to CNN.
“These allegations are false and come on the eve of an election against the front-runner for governor,” he said in the statement to the outlet. “For nearly 20 years, I have served the public - as a prosecutor and a congressman and have always protected women. I will defend myself with the facts and where necessary bring legal action. My focus in the coming days is to be with my wife and children and defend our decades of service against these lies.”
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said on Saturday that it had opened an investigation into the sexual assault allegations against Swalwell.
Several of the congressman’s aides left his gubernatorial campaign even before the allegations were published, according to Politico.
The New York Times also reported on Sunday that more than 50 former staff members of Swalwell called for him to drop his bid for governor and resign from Congress over his alleged misconduct.
“No one is above the law,” the former employees said in a written statement. “Not a congressman. Not a candidate for governor. No one.”
Reached for comment on Swalwell’s statements, a spokesperson for the congressman told the Daily Beast: “The focus of our staff right now is caring for each other and ensuring that we can continue to serve our constituents.”
In March, Gonzales admitted to having an affair with a staffer who later died by suicide.
The Republican lawmaker had previously tried to downplay the allegations as “blackmail” and “coordinated political attacks,” but came clean about the accusations after he was forced into a primary runoff election against YouTuber Brandon Herrera.
“I’ve asked God to forgive me, which he has,” he said on the MAGA-friendly podcast, The Joe Pags Show, last month.
The lawmaker then announced on March 5 that he would not seek re-election but would finish out his remaining term.
Gonzales’s one-time regional district director, Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, 35, set herself on fire in September after her husband had learned of her affair with the GOP congressman.
Her husband, Adrian Aviles, shared Gonzales’s inappropriate texts with his wife with the San Antonio Express-News, which published the story in February.
Gonzales, who has six children with his wife, Angel, allegedly pressured Santos-Aviles to send him nude photos, with one text reportedly from Gonzales sent on May 9, 2024, asking the staffer to “send me a sexy pic.”
The Trump-endorsed lawmaker also pursued another one of his employees, his former campaign director, the Express-News reported last week.
Gonzales had allegedly asked the staffer for nude photographs a dozen times over the span of three days, according to the newspaper.
The Daily Beast reached out to Gonzales’s office for comment.
