The ink is barely dry on leading Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell’s resignation from Congress and the California governor’s race, and fellow Golden State Democrat Kamala Harris has already swooped in.
A surprising new text message poll surfaced today asking California voters if they would write in Harris onto the ballot for the California governor’s race.
According to shared screenshots, the poll lists three to four questions about the California Democrat and former presidential candidate.
The flash text poll asked about the chances of the voter writing in Harris’s name, and then it asked, in the scenario that Harris was actually running a write-in campaign, who the voter would elect.
The survey then asks the voter whether they think writing is easy.
Based on this text poll, which is being sent to CA voters right now, someone is sending up a trial balloon to see if Kamala Harris could swoop in and win the California’ governor’s race. pic.twitter.com/kmIhtRxoZ1
— Darwin BondGraham (@DarwinBondGraha) April 12, 2026
The surprise news of the poll comes days and hours after Swalwell dramatically quit the governor’s race after reported accusations on Friday of sexual misconduct.
Swalwell resigned from Congress on Monday in disgrace, just one day after suspending his California gubernatorial campaign.
Just last week, Swalwell was the frontrunner in the Democratic race to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Now Democratic competitors are rushing to compete for Swalwell’s voters, but the leading Democratic candidates to take those votes — former Congresswoman Katie Porter and billionaire Tom Steyer — could also have baggage of their own, observers noted.
However, Harris entering the race would fix what some have described as an unimpressive field of candidates unable to break out of the pack — despite her saying she would NOT run for governor just a few short weeks ago.
“Someone is sending up a trial balloon to see if Kamala Harris could swoop in and win the California governor’s race,” wrote Darwin BondGraham, the news editor who shared the screenshots.
Harris has not publicly given any indication that she is rethinking her decision not to run for governor.
As recently as Friday, she said she “is thinking about” running for president again at a convention hosted by Rev. Al Sharpton.
Any type of official Harris write-in could prove to be a swift win for the former vice president, who was the dominant favorite to replace Newsom early in the election season before bowing out.
According to the California Secretary of State, a candidate must file a statement of write-in candidacy between April 6 and May 19.
Then, write-in nomination papers must be circulated and left with a county elections official in that same time period.
As for Swalwell, his congressional seat is in a safely Democratic district, as current California Gov. Gavin Newsom has 14 days to call a special election to replace the now-vacant seat.