America just learned about the real Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), when accusations of sexual assault ended his gubernatorial campaign and his political career. People rightly began to ask why those who knew Swalwell’s character hadn’t done more to stop his rise.

Let me explain: People did try. They were silenced or dismissed.

The more interesting story is who championed Swalwell even though his poor judgment was well known — and what it says about a Democratic Party that has lost the nation’s trust.

My father, Pete Stark, represented California’s East Bay for 40 years before Swalwell unseated him. He fought for single-payer healthcare and helped coin the term “Medicare for All.” He voted against the Iraq War, then nearly got censured for saying it was “blow[ing] up innocent people … for the president’s amusement.” He became the first member of Congress to publicly identify as an atheist. And he was one of the few willing to challenge unconditional military aid to Israel as a consistent matter of principle.

Dad’s bluntness made him effective. but it also made him a target. By 2012, PACs aligned with the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee poured money into his challenger’s campaign — groups like the National Action Committee, the World Alliance for Israel PAC, and the Boca Raton-based “Because I Care PAC,” whose other recipients that cycle included first-time Senate candidate Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and the presidential campaigns of Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.). Pharmaceutical giants Wellpoint, Amgen, Merck, and Pfizer chipped in thousands more.

The vehicle for all this money was Swalwell — a 31-year-old Dublin city councilman with a gift for self-promotion and no identifiable beliefs about anything.

Swalwell wasn’t selected for any discernible vision. He was an investment for special interest groups. He collaborated with the local Tea Party and corporate developers. He attacked my dad — the only atheist in Congress — for voting against “In God We Trust” as the national motto. He attacked my family and went after my then-10-year-old sibling for attending school in Maryland. He borrowed the religious right’s playbook to take out a progressive, with pro-Netanyahu and big pharma money funding it all.

Dad saw what Swalwell was. He called him a “slimeball,” a “f—ing crook,” and told him “you’re going to jail” to his face at a debate on April 10, 2012. He accused him of taking money “from people that he gave special zoning privileges to” while serving on the Dublin, Calif. city council. The media covered it as the embarrassing outburst of a politician past his prime. But in 2019, developer James Tong was convicted by a federal jury of illegally funneling $38,000 to Swalwell’s campaigns and sentenced to 15 months in prison.

And “slimeball” turned out to be the right word, too. It was already known that, while in college, Swalwell and his friends had impersonated an MTV film crew so that he could film and judge a bikini contest during Spring Break in Cancun. The red flags were waving.

Dad was 80, a bit curmudgeonly, and bad at the kind of politics that punishes candor and rewards caution. He lost. And the people who bankrolled his replacement got exactly what they paid for.

Swalwell compiled a record designed to generate no friction and attract no scrutiny, voting like the median Democrat despite representing one of America’s most liberal districts. He became an MSNBC regular. He ran for president with the slogan “Go big, be bold” and a platform that contained nothing of the kind. He was the product the corporate donor class ordered: frictionless, empty, always on-message.

Now at least five women have accused him of sexual misconduct, including a former staffer who has credibly alleged he raped her. The Manhattan District Attorney is investigating. All of his congressional endorsers for governor abandoned him. His senior staff said they were “horrified.” He has resigned from Congress.

I’m not claiming that Swalwell’s backers in 2012 knew he was a sexual predator. But they were aware of his character flaws and chose him anyway, because character wasn’t what they were after.

Swalwell is a symptom. He is what happens when Democrats select for compliance over conviction. When the criteria for advancement are pliability and willingness to take direction from the people writing the checks, you shouldn’t be surprised when the person you have elevated has no moral compass. The emptiness that made Swalwell useful is the same emptiness that made him dangerous. These are not separate qualities.

Dad was a good man. He could be difficult, but he believed things deeply, passionately, at real political cost. The people who viewed his conviction as a problem bought the replacement they wanted. They own Swalwell’s rise. When you put someone with no convictions or internal guardrails power over staff, constituents, and the public trust, you reap what you sow.

As long as the Democratic Party is afraid of Pete Starks, we’ll just keep getting Eric Swalwells.

Fish Stark is executive director of the American Humanist Association, son of the late 20-term Congressman Pete Stark (D-Calif.) and an elected member of his local Democratic central committee.

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.