Eric Swalwell facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Eric Swalwell
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Official portrait, 2016
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| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California |
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| Assumed office January 3, 2013 |
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| Preceded by | Pete Stark (redistricting) |
| Constituency | 15th district (2013–2023) 14th district (2023–present) |
| Member of the Dublin City Council | |
| In office December 7, 2010 – January 3, 2013 |
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| Preceded by | Kate Ann Scholz |
| Succeeded by | Abe Gupta |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Eric Michael Swalwell
November 16, 1980 Sac City, Iowa, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse |
Brittany Watts
(m. 2016) |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Campbell University University of Maryland, College Park (BA) University of Maryland, Baltimore (JD) |
| Website |
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Eric Michael Swalwell (born November 16, 1980) is an American lawyer and politician. He serves as a U.S. representative for California's 14th congressional district. He has held this role since 2023. Before that, he represented the 15th district from 2013 to 2023. His district covers parts of Alameda County and Contra Costa County in California. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
Swalwell was born in Sac City, Iowa, and grew up in Dublin, California. He was the first in his family to go to college. He attended Campbell University on a soccer scholarship. Later, he earned degrees from the University of Maryland, College Park, and the University of Maryland, Baltimore. While in college, he worked with the College Park City Council. He also interned for U.S. Representative Ellen Tauscher. After law school, Swalwell became a deputy district attorney in Alameda County. He also served on the Dublin City Council. In 2012, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. He won against Pete Stark, who had been in office for 40 years.
Since 2017, Swalwell has helped lead the House Democratic Steering Committee. He also ran for president in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries in 2019. He later stopped his campaign and supported Joe Biden.
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Early Life and Education
Eric Swalwell was born on November 16, 1980, in Sac City, Iowa. He is the oldest of four sons. His parents, Eric Nelson Swalwell and Vicky Joe Swalwell, are both Republicans. His father was a police chief in Algona, Iowa. His family later moved to Dublin, California. He went to Wells Middle School and then Dublin High School, graduating in 1999. As a child, Swalwell had a condition called Bell's palsy. This caused temporary weakness or paralysis of facial muscles. He had to wear an eyepatch to treat it.
Swalwell went to Campbell University in North Carolina from 1999 to 2001. He had a scholarship to play soccer. In 2001, he broke both his thumbs. This injury ended his scholarship. He then transferred to the University of Maryland, College Park. In 2003, he earned his bachelor's degree in government and politics. He then studied law at the University of Maryland School of Law. He received his law degree in 2006.
At the University of Maryland, Swalwell was very involved in student life. He was Vice President of Campus Affairs for the Student Government. He was also part of the Student-Faculty-Staff University Senate. He was a member of the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity. He also worked as a student helper for the College Park City Council. This idea of students helping the city council was later used in other college towns.
Early Political Career
In 2001 and 2002, Swalwell worked as an unpaid intern for U.S. Representative Ellen Tauscher. She represented California's 10th district. He helped with research for laws and connecting with people in the district. The September 11 terrorist attacks happened during his internship. This event inspired him to work in public service. It also led to his first achievement: creating a scholarship program for students who lost parents in the attacks. He did this through his Student Government position.
After law school, Swalwell returned to California. He worked as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County. A deputy district attorney is a lawyer who works for the government. They represent the state in criminal cases. He also served on two commissions in Dublin: the Heritage & Cultural Arts Commission (2006–2008) and the Planning Commission (2008–2010). A commission is a group of people chosen to do a specific job. In 2010, he was elected to the Dublin City Council. The city council makes decisions for the city. While he was running for Congress, some people tried to remove him from the city council. However, this effort was later stopped.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
2012 Election
In September 2011, Eric Swalwell decided to run for Congress. He ran in California's 15th district. This district was previously the 13th, held by Pete Stark for 40 years. Swalwell took time off from the Dublin City Council to run.
California has a "top two" primary system. This means the two candidates with the most votes in the primary election move on to the general election. It doesn't matter what political party they belong to. In the June primary, Pete Stark came in first. Eric Swalwell came in second.
In the November general election, Swalwell won against Stark. He received 52.1% of the votes. This was a big surprise, as Stark had been in office for a very long time.
Later Elections
Swalwell has won re-election several times since 2012.
- In 2014, he defeated Republican Hugh Bussell.
- In 2016, he won against Republican Danny Reid Turner.
- In 2018, he defeated Republican Rudy Peters.
- In 2020, he won against Republican Alison Hayden.
- In 2022, he won against Alison Hayden again.
- In 2024, he won against Vin Kruttiventi.
Tenure
In the House of Representatives, Swalwell is known for using social media to connect with people. In 2016, The Hill newspaper called him "the Snapchat king of Congress." He used Facebook Live and Periscope to show what was happening during a protest by House Democrats about gun violence. He later suggested new rules for cameras on the House floor.
Swalwell is only the third person to represent his district since 1945. George P. Miller held the seat from 1945 to 1973. Then Pete Stark won it in 1972.
In his first term, Swalwell served on the House Committee on Homeland Security. He also served on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. He helped fight against a decision to allow small knives on airplanes. This decision was later changed.
Soon after starting his job, Swalwell helped create the United Solutions Caucus. This was a group of new House members from both major parties. They met to talk about areas where they could agree.
On December 12, 2013, Swalwell introduced a bill called the Philippines Charitable Giving Assistance Act. This bill allowed Americans to get tax deductions for donations made to help victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. The typhoon caused a lot of damage and killed many people. Swalwell said the bill would encourage Americans to donate when help was most needed. President Barack Obama signed this bill into law in March 2014. By the end of his first term, Swalwell had helped pass more bills into law than any other new member.
In April 2015, Swalwell started Future Forum. This is a group of young House Democrats. They focus on issues important to young adults, like student loan debt. Swalwell himself still had student loan debt from his college and law school education.
In May 2015, Swalwell and Representative Darrell Issa started the bipartisan Sharing Economy Caucus. This group explores how new economic ideas can help more Americans.
In 2016, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi made Swalwell vice-chair of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee. This committee helps set the Democratic Party's plans and chooses members for other committees. In December 2016, he became co-chair of the House Democratic Steering Committee.
Swalwell also kept his seat on the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. He joined the United States House Committee on the Judiciary.
In December 2016, Swalwell and Representative Elijah Cummings introduced a bill called the Protecting Our Democracy Act. This bill would create a group to investigate foreign interference in the 2016 election. He spoke often on national news about these investigations.
Because he was on the House Intelligence Committee, Swalwell helped investigate possible links between people connected to President Trump and Russian officials.
In 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice took some of Swalwell's personal data. This also happened to Adam Schiff, who leads the House Intelligence Committee.
Swalwell was one of the managers (like a prosecutor) during President Trump's second impeachment trial.
On March 5, 2021, Swalwell filed a civil lawsuit against Donald Trump and others. The lawsuit sought money for their alleged role in the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
In January 2023, Speaker Kevin McCarthy removed Swalwell and Adam Schiff from the House Intelligence Committee.
Contact with Suspected Chinese Spy
In December 2020, a news story mentioned Swalwell in connection with a suspected Chinese spy named Christine Fang. Fang had been trying to connect with California politicians since 2012. The story said Fang helped with fundraising for Swalwell's 2014 election. She also met him at events and helped place an intern in his office.
Swalwell stopped all contact with Fang in 2015. This happened after U.S. intelligence officials told him and other top members of Congress about concerns that Chinese agents were trying to get information. The news report stated that Swalwell was not accused of doing anything wrong. Officials also did not believe Fang got any secret information from her contacts.
An FBI official familiar with the investigation said that "Swalwell was completely cooperative and under no suspicion of wrongdoing." In May 2023, the House Ethics Committee closed its investigation into Swalwell. They took no further action.
Committee Assignments
For the 118th Congress, Eric Swalwell serves on these committees:
- Committee on Homeland Security
- Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection
- Committee on the Judiciary
- Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement
- Subcommittee on Responsiveness and Accountability to Oversight (Ranking Member)
- Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust
Caucus Memberships
Swalwell is part of several groups in Congress called caucuses:
- House Democratic Steering Committee (co-chair)
- American Sikh Congressional Caucus
- Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
- Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus
- Blue Collar Caucus
- Congressional Blockchain Caucus
2020 Presidential Campaign
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| Swalwell for America | |
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| Campaign | 2020 United States presidential election (Democratic Party primaries) |
| Candidate | Eric Swalwell U.S. Representative from California's 15th district (2013–present) |
| Affiliation | Democratic Party |
| Announced | April 8, 2019 |
| Suspended | July 8, 2019 |
| Headquarters | Dublin, California |
| Key people | Ruben Gallego (campaign chair) Lisa Tucker (chief strategist, campaign manager) Garrick Delzell (chief operating officer) Alex Evans (senior strategist) Tim Sbranti (senior strategist) |
| Receipts | US$2,602,439.44 (9-31-2019) |
On April 8, 2019, Eric Swalwell announced he was running for president. He made the announcement on a TV show. He also released a campaign ad online. He said that gun control would be a main focus of his campaign. He officially started his campaign at Dublin High School on April 14, 2019.
Swalwell took part in one presidential debate. During the debate, he pointed out that he was very young when Joe Biden first talked about passing leadership to a younger generation. Swalwell's support in polls never went above 1%. On July 8, 2019, he stopped his campaign. At that time, he was at risk of not qualifying for the next set of debates.
Political Positions
Swalwell has supported changes to education laws. He wanted to increase money for education and decrease money for defense. He also suggested creating jobs in renewable energy using government funds. He said he would try to raise the cap on the Social Security payroll tax. This would mean wealthier Americans would pay more into the program.
In March 2013, Swalwell helped write a letter to the head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The letter was against a new rule that would allow passengers to bring knives onto airplanes.
In 2022, Swalwell was one of 16 Democrats who voted against a bill. This bill aimed to crack down on big companies for unfair business practices.
Personal Life
Eric Swalwell and his first wife are divorced. He married his second wife, Brittany Ann Watts, in October 2016. She was a sales director at the Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay. They have three children. Their son was born in 2017, their first daughter in 2018, and a third child in 2021.
Images for kids
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Official portrait, 2016
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Representative Eric Swalwell on the Capitol Hill steps with friends, family, and campaign staff, 2013
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Swalwell meets with President Barack Obama on February 12, 2015.
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Eric Swalwell speaking to the California Democratic Party State Convention in June 2019
See also
In Spanish: Eric Swalwell para niños
