Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is set to retire from Congress… and is about to jump into the California governor’s race.
Pelosi is in open discussions with Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., about endorsing his gubernatorial campaign.
Pelosi is “having chitchats with Swalwell about the governor race,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle, which cited a Politico report. Her endorsement “would be significant at this stage in the contest.”
Swalwell has recently entered a wide-open Democratic primary field with at least ten major candidates aiming to replace termed-out Governor Gavin Newsom. A poll released last month showed 44 percent of surveyed voters are undecided, with no candidate polling above 15 percent, according to CalMatters.
Pelosi had reviously endorsed Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis before she withdrew from the race. The former speaker also jumped into the latest California senate race and gave then-Representative Adam Schiff her endorsement in the 2024 U.S. Senate primary against Rep. Katie Porter. Schiff won the campaign.
Swalwell, a seven-term congressman representing the Bay Area, launched his gubernatorial campaign two weeks ago. In 2021, Pelosi named him as a House impeachment manager following the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, “which gives him anti-Trump bona fides.”
However, Swalwell’s candidacy comes in the face of numerous scandals and controversies. The congressman had ties to Christine Fang, also known as Fang Fang, a Chinese spy who targeted up-and-coming California politicians.
Fang reportedly took part in fundraising for Swalwell’s 2014 reelection campaign, according to Axios reporting from 2020.
Despite Republican calls for his removal from the House Intelligence Committee over the matter, Pelosi maintained at the time, “I don’t have any concern about Mr. Swalwell.”
More recently, the Trump administration referred Swalwell to the Justice Department over suspected tax and mortgage fraud. Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte formally requested the investigation in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, citing mortgage and tax fraud over “allegedly false and misleading statements”
Democratic insiders have expressed mixed views on Swalwell’s candidacy.
“We are living in an era where lead candidates for high office are not required to have any real achievements or experience governing and crafting compromises on complex issues,” one major former Democratic elected official told the Chronicle. “As long as you are ubiquitous on cable news and social media, you have a real chance. That’s the way it is.”
Swalwell’s campaign has received a boost from billionaire Steve Cloobeck, a former 2026 gubernatorial candidate who dropped out Monday and endorsed the congressman and promised major financial help.