East Bay Democrat Eric Swalwell Joins 2020 Presidential Field

East Bay Congressman Eric Swalwell, who has represented parts of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties since 2013, announced Monday he'll enter the 2020 race for president, becoming the second California Democrat to jump into an already crowded field.

He made the announcement in New York City during a taping of tonight's broadcast of "Late Show with Stephen Colbert."

"I see a country in quicksand. Unable to solve problems and threats from abroad, unable to make life better for people here at home. Nothing gets done," Swalwell said.

"None of that is going to change until we get a leader who is willing to go big in the issues we take on, be bold in the solutions we offer, and do good in the way that we govern. I'm ready to solve these problems."

Swalwell has emerged as a leading voice for Democrats in the House, where he has proven an effective messenger on social media and cable TV. At 38, he is one of the youngest members of the House leadership team.

His road to the nomination will assuredly be an uphill climb. He enters the race with less name ID than other candidates in the field, which includes fellow Californian Sen. Kamala Harris.

The only sitting congressman to be elected president was James Garfield, in 1880.

Swalwell is hoping to gain ground in his native Iowa, which holds its first-in-the-nation caucus on February 3, the same day early voting begins in California. Swalwell was born in Sac City, Iowa, and spent his early years there.

"My dad was a cop. My mom raised us boys, made wedding cakes in the kitchen, dollhouses in the garage and ran a fairly large unlicensed day care facility," Swalwell told KQED's Political Breakdown.

He credits a local political dust up with shaping his moral compass. When Swalwell's father, then police chief in Algona, Iowa, refused to waive parking tickets against the mayor and a council member, he was fired.

"I thought, 'They're going to light Dad on fire?'" remembers Swalwell, then just 4 years old. "That is where I learned to do the right thing no matter what, and that nobody is above the rules."

As he hits the campaign trail, expect Swalwell to highlight his conservative upbringing.

"I have to go on Fox News if I want my parents to watch me on TV," he said. "I was raised in a Republican household, and my mom and dad, truth be told, on the refrigerator they have a Trump-Pence magnet."

Despite holding a virtual residency on cable news shows over the last two years, Swalwell has work to do in introducing himself to voters. In last month's Iowa Poll, 71 percent of likely Democratic voters didn't know enough about Swalwell to have an opinion on him.

The fourth-term congressman will also begin with a financial disadvantage. He has not yet formed a presidential fundraising committee, but he has $1.6 million sitting in his House account.

Upstart runs are nothing new for Swalwell. He won his House seat in 2012 by knocking off 20-term incumbent Pete Stark, a Democrat who had represented the East Bay since 1973 — seven years before Swalwell was born.

"I thought we could probably use some new energy and ideas to understand this changing economy," Swalwell said.

This time around, Swalwell plans to build his campaign around the issue of gun safety, according to the Atlantic. He said that while campaigning for Democratic House candidates in 2018, no other issue resonated the same way with millennials.

"You talk to any young person anywhere in America, it's the right to learn without fear, the right to go home, the right to live. That is their issue. They're not a single-issue generation, but if you can't solve that one, they're not interested in engaging on anything else."

Swalwell earned a law degree from the University of Maryland and worked for a time as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County, the same office Harris worked in early in her career.

Swalwell's East Bay congressional seat is a safe one for Democrats, but he says he'll give up his seat if he runs for president. However the filing deadline for the March 2020 primary is Dec. 6, giving him a little time to make his final decision.

Swalwell and his wife have two young children, a son and a daughter who are both under the age of two.