SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Rep. Eric Swalwell, a Democrat who helped manage the 2021 impeachment case against President Donald Trump, announced Thursday that he will run for California governor next year.

Swalwell, 45, has been a high-profile adversary of Trump. Last week, Swalwell said he was being targeted for investigation by the Justice Department, in what he characterized as one of many moves by the president to go after his enemies.

Swalwell, a frequent guest on cable news shows who relentlessly attacks Trump on social media, appeared Thursday night on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Shortly before his segment aired on the East Coast, he announced on his campaign website that he was entering the race, vowing to be “California’s fighter and protector.”

“I’m running for governor because prices are too high and people are scared,” he said on his website.

Swalwell explained that he would “keep the worst president in history out of our homes, out of our streets, and out of our lives.” He also said he would focus on homes and jobs as governor.

In his late-night appearance, he told Kimmel that it makes him angry to see “Californians running through the fields where they work, from ICE agents or troops in our streets.”

The 2026 race to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom, who cannot run for reelection because of term limits, is a wide-open contest that has already attracted numerous candidates. But none of them hold a commanding lead.

To Emphasize History Fighting Trump

Swalwell is likely to emphasize his history of fighting Trump, an approach that many Democratic voters say they want their elected officials to take.

But his run for California’s top office could be hampered by his lack of experience in state government. He has spent a dozen years representing a suburban district east of San Francisco in Congress, before which he served as a City Council member in Dublin, California.

He is little known around the state Capitol, where endorsements and campaign support from business interests and labor unions can play a big role in shaping an expensive statewide contest.

Swalwell, who ran briefly for president in 2019, is likely to position himself as a more moderate candidate among the Democrats in the field.

He is a former prosecutor who often talks about his father and brothers working as police officers. He supported the recall last year of Pamela Price, a progressive district attorney in Alameda County, and was in favor of a statewide ballot measure that enacted stiffer criminal penalties for drug and theft offenses.

Swalwell first won office in 2012 by challenging Pete Stark, an incumbent Democrat who had held his seat in the House for 40 years. In Washington, Swalwell has held high-profile positions on the House intelligence and judiciary committees, where he helped investigate evidence for Trump’s first impeachment in 2019.

After the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, Swalwell was named a manager of Trump’s second impeachment. He later sued the president for acts of terrorism and incitement to riot, a case that is still pending in federal court, and he is now one of the top Democrats on a subcommittee examining outstanding questions about the Jan. 6 attack.

This month, Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency under Trump, accused Swalwell of having committed mortgage and tax fraud by obtaining several million dollars’ worth of home loans. The allegation was similar to one the Trump administration lodged against Sen. Adam Schiff, another California Democrat who as a House member helped manage the first impeachment case against Trump.

Swalwell not only denied the fraud accusation but also seemed to wear it as a badge of honor, issuing a statement suggesting that it was payback for having been “the most vocal critic of Donald Trump over the last decade.”

The race for California governor will present an entirely different set of issues for Swalwell to navigate. Voters are on edge about the high cost of living in the state, with 4 in 10 saying in a recent survey that they were concerned about not having enough money to pay their rent or mortgage.

The next governor also will have to manage a state budget that is projected to face a multibillion-dollar deficit for several years to come and figure out how to negotiate with a Democratic Legislature that generally opposes spending cuts.

Swalwell is stepping into a race with a field that remains in flux after two of California’s top Democrats — Sen. Alex Padilla and former Vice President Kamala Harris — opted not to run for governor.

A poll released last week by the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, showed no candidate with more than 13% support and found that 44% of voters were undecided.

Democratic candidates include Katie Porter, a former member of Congress; Antonio Villaraigosa, a former mayor of Los Angeles; Xavier Becerra, a former Biden administration Cabinet secretary; Betty Yee, a former state controller; and Tom Steyer, a former hedge fund manager.

The top Republican candidates are Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host, and Chad Bianco, the sheriff of Riverside County.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Laurel Rosenhall/Gabriela Bhaskar
c. 2025 The New York Times Company