Four women have now come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against East Bay Congressman Eric Swalwell, including a former staffer who says he raped her. The accusations are devastating, detailed, and — if you've been paying any attention to Swalwell's career — somehow not entirely surprising from a politician who has repeatedly demonstrated catastrophically poor judgment.

Let's rewind. This is the same congressman who got entangled with a suspected Chinese intelligence operative. The same guy who launched a quixotic presidential campaign in 2019 that went absolutely nowhere. And now, with a crowded Democratic gubernatorial primary ahead, he decided the smart move was to run for the highest office in the state while apparently sitting on a ticking time bomb of serious allegations.

As one Bay Area resident put it: "It's crazy to me that people like this have the audacity to seek higher offices knowing full well they have several allegations waiting to come out."

The fallout has been swift. Political opponents and even unions that had endorsed Swalwell are now calling for him to drop out. His campaign's response hasn't helped — his attorney sent a cease-and-desist letter to one of the accusers arguing that her continued professional relationship with Swalwell after the alleged assault undermined her credibility. In a world where power dynamics between a congressman and a staffer couldn't be more obvious, that defense reads as tone-deaf at best and victim-blaming at worst.

One local observer connected the dots bluntly: "Remember, the guy was honey-trapped by a Chinese spy, now this accusation. Put them together and you see a pattern." That pattern isn't partisan — it's a pattern of a man who apparently believed the rules didn't apply to him.

Here's what matters from a governance standpoint: California doesn't need another ambitious politician whose personal baggage becomes the state's problem. The governor's race already has a bloated field of Democratic candidates splitting votes. Swalwell staying in doesn't just hurt himself — it dilutes the primary in ways that could hand outsized influence to party insiders rather than voters.

These are allegations, not convictions, and due process matters. But the sheer number of accusers, the specificity of the claims, and Swalwell's own ham-fisted legal response make this campaign functionally over. The congressman should do the dignified thing and step aside — something that, given his track record, he probably won't do until there's absolutely no other option.

California deserves a governor's race focused on fixing the state's actual problems — housing, public safety, fiscal sanity — not another news cycle consumed by a politician's self-inflicted implosion.