The moment the name “Swalwell” started disappearing from the campaign trail, you could almost feel the room change—less debate about him, more figuring out what to do next. For some Bay Area Democrats, the shift is personal, not just political.
Robbins-Roth, for example, said she remembers seeing Swalwell up close during the second impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, when he served as a House manager. “They were prepared, they were informed and they were pretty used to dealing with being in rooms with a bunch of old guys who felt like they could push women around,” Robbins-Roth said. But even then, she sounded conflicted. “He was one of the folks I was so impressed with,” she added, before pointing to disappointment when she felt his behavior didn’t match the earlier impression.
So where does that leave her now? Honestly, she says she’s “back at Katie Porter.” Not forever, though—she told Misryoum she hasn’t locked her decision. In the aftermath of Swalwell’s exit, the Porter and Steyer campaigns each leaned on recent polling to argue that their candidate was best positioned to benefit from his downfall. Misryoum newsroom reported a March survey from UC Berkeley’s Jack Citrin Center and Politico found 39% of Swalwell voters picking Porter as their second choice, and 15% preferring Steyer. Then in April, an April poll by Global Strategy Group for the Steyer campaign found Swalwell supporters more closely divided on their second choice, with 31% backing Porter and 25% supporting Steyer. It’s not a clean split—more like a scramble.
A big part of that scramble is motive. Shekhar Sakhalkar, of San José, said he is backing Steyer because of Steyer’s early support for impeaching Donald Trump. Steyer launched the “Need to Impeach” campaign to remove Trump from office less than a year into his first term. “I thought that he was trying to do the right thing in calling out the right problems,” Sakhalkar said. “So I was impressed with that part from the beginning.”
Berkeley resident Susanna Porte, meanwhile, is drawn to Steyer too, and she also mentioned former state Controller Betty Yee. Porte said both have focused on her top issues of the environment and economic justice—and she’s tired of half-measures when it comes to utilities. “Decided to challenge PG&E,” she said, like it’s the simplest next step.
There are currently seven notable Democrats in the race, including former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond. Porte told Misryoum she likes the idea of a smaller field because it could help voters focus on the strongest candidates—though she doesn’t want to see Yee exit just yet. Yee is polling in the low single-digits, but Porte said she hopes Yee stays in, and maybe someone else will jump out instead. “Since she does seem to represent a lot of my views, I hope she’ll stay in, and perhaps someone else will jump out of the race,” Porte said.
Still, the seven Democrats left all see opportunity now that Swalwell is out. Mahan launched a $3 million ad buy that included broadcast television in the region, while Becerra touted an influx of first-time donors. Coakley said he’s taking his support back to Becerra—and started engaging more deeply since the scandal broke. “I’ve gone to the [candidate] websites,” he said. “I hadn’t really done that before all this had happened.” Somewhere, a campaign email notification must be going off, buzzing quietly in the background. And for voters, that’s the real shift: not just choosing a name, but suddenly having the time—and the reason—to look closely.
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