Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Texas, announced she is filing a motion to expel Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., from Congress after a former staffer accused the California Democrat of sexual assault, allegations Swalwell has flatly denied.
Luna made the announcement in a series of posts on X, calling on Swalwell to resign and challenging Democratic leaders to hold their own members to the same standard they demand of Republicans. The move comes as Swalwell's campaign for California governor has begun to fracture, with both co-chairs of his gubernatorial effort stepping down on Friday and urging him to exit the race.
Swalwell posted his own response on X late Friday night, denying every element of the accusation. But the damage within his own party was already spreading.
Luna did not mince words. In one post, she framed the situation as a test of Democratic consistency, as Newsmax reported:
"So, the Dems don't want Swalwell to be governor of California, but he can stay a member of Congress? Are we running a halfway house for sexual predators in Congress now? No."
She followed that with a direct demand, writing on X: "I am calling on @RepSwalwell to resign from office." Luna added bluntly: "He should not be allowed to stay in Congress."
Luna also took a broader swipe at what she described as a bipartisan failure to enforce basic standards. She wrote that she has "called for Republican members to do the same when they are caught doing corrupt and morally bankrupt crap," and pressed Democratic leadership to follow suit.
The full quote from her post laid the point bare:
"Idk in what parallel universe we are living in that elected members of congress begin to chose politics and party BS over basic human dignity. I have called for Republican members to do the same when they are caught doing corrupt and morally bankrupt crap. Dem leadership needs to do the same."
Swalwell did not stay silent. Late Friday night, the California Democrat posted a lengthy denial on X, insisting the accusations were fabricated. His statement left no room for ambiguity:
"These allegations of sexual assault are flat false. They are absolutely false. They did not happen. They have never happened. And I will fight them with everything I have."
In a separate post, he added: "Hear it directly from me. These allegations are flat false. And I will fight them." Swalwell did, however, apologize to his family for what he described as past "mistakes in judgment", though he did not specify what those mistakes were.
The identity of the former staffer who made the accusations has not been publicly disclosed. The details of the alleged conduct and the timeline of the events remain unclear.
Whatever Swalwell's denials, the political fallout within his own ranks was swift. Reps. Jimmy Gomez and Adam Gray, both Democrats who served as co-chairs of Swalwell's California gubernatorial campaign, said Friday they would immediately step down from those roles. Both called on Swalwell to drop out of the race entirely.
That kind of rapid abandonment by fellow party members is not a vote of confidence. When a candidate's own campaign leadership walks away within hours, it signals that the internal assessment is grim, regardless of what the candidate says publicly.
The California governor's race is already shaping up as a volatile contest. The state's primary election is set for June 2, with the top two finishers advancing to the November 3 general election regardless of party affiliation. Recent polling has shown two Republicans leading the field in what would be a remarkable shift in deep-blue California.
Luna's motion to expel, if formally filed, would face steep procedural hurdles. Expelling a member of Congress requires a two-thirds vote in the House, a threshold that is almost never met. But the political message is clear: Republicans intend to force Democrats to take a public position on whether Swalwell should remain in office while facing these allegations.
The broader context matters. The Democratic Party has spent months wrestling with internal fractures that go well beyond one congressman's troubles. From Pennsylvania Democrats turning on Sen. John Fetterman to prominent voices like James Carville publicly rebuking members of his own coalition, the party's internal discipline has frayed visibly.
Luna's framing, that Democrats apply one standard to gubernatorial ambitions and another to sitting members of Congress, cuts at a credibility problem the party has struggled to answer. If Swalwell is too damaged to run for governor, why is he fit to vote on legislation?
That question has no comfortable answer for Democratic leaders, who have largely remained silent on the matter. Luna explicitly called on "Dem leadership" to act, but no Democratic leadership statement addressing the expulsion demand or the underlying allegations has surfaced.
The silence is itself a kind of statement. When senior party figures have been willing to publicly rebuke colleagues on far less serious matters, the refusal to address sexual assault allegations against a sitting member stands out.
Several important questions remain open. No formal motion to expel has been confirmed as filed, Luna said she is filing one, but the procedural status is unknown. The specifics of the former staffer's allegations have not been detailed publicly. Swalwell's reference to "mistakes in judgment" has not been explained. And no law enforcement action or formal investigation has been disclosed in connection with the accusations.
Swalwell's denial was categorical. He did not hedge or qualify on the assault allegations themselves. But his simultaneous apology for unspecified past conduct raises its own questions, ones that neither his posts nor any public statement have answered.
The broader Democratic landscape only amplifies the pressure. Voters across the political spectrum have signaled frustration with a party that appears to be out of step with its own base on issue after issue. Internal disarray over how to handle a member facing serious personal allegations is one more crack in a foundation that was already under strain.
Whether Luna's expulsion effort gains traction or dies on the vine, the episode forces a straightforward accountability question. Democrats spent years insisting that allegations of misconduct against public officials must be taken seriously and investigated thoroughly. Luna is now asking them to apply that principle to one of their own, on the record, with a vote.
The party that built its brand on "believe all women" will now have to decide whether that slogan applies when the accused sits on their side of the aisle. So far, the answer has been silence, and silence, in politics, is its own kind of verdict.