Rubén Gallego on why he defended Eric Swalwell — and why he regrets it now

This month, Rep. Eric Swalwell faced a flood of sexual misconduct allegations, pushing him to drop out of the California governor’s race. But the scandal’s blast radius has also ensnared Sen. Rubén Gallego of Arizona, a potential presidential candidate in 2028 and one of Swalwell’s close allies before the stories broke. Gallego had endorsed Swalwell’s gubernatorial bid, chaired his 2020 presidential campaign, and invested in Swalwell’s AI startup.

But now, Gallego is distancing himself from the Congress member and arguing that he had no prior knowledge of the allegations. Gallego has also denied that he heard any rumors of Swalwell’s alleged sexual misconduct.

Recently, I sat down with Gallego for an upcoming episode of America, Actually. The conversation focuses on themes that have made Gallego a national name: immigration reform, outreach to Latino voters, and his advocacy for Democrats to do more outreach to men of color. However, considering the flood of questions about his close relationship with Swalwell, and the fact that Gallego has now earned the ire of some of the voices who helped bring the allegations to light, I also wanted to ask him about his former friend and ally.

Here’s what he said. The full episode will air Saturday, April 25, but will be available earlier this week for Vox Members. Join now on Patreon and get notified when it publishes. 

I don’t want to go too much longer without asking about the recent flood of sexual assault allegations against Congressman Eric Swalwell, who had called you his best friend.

You chaired his 2020 presidential campaign. You were financially involved in his AI startup. Did you have any knowledge of these allegations of misconduct or had you heard rumors of predatory behavior on the Hill? I wanted to ask you directly.

No. No clue, no knowledge of any of the allegations or predatory behavior. That was definitely not what any of us… and look, we’ve all been having conversations since we’re all actually going back…

Who do you mean by we?

Friends, members of Congress, other supporters. We’re all talking to each other to see: What did we do wrong? What did we not see? 

I want to just follow up, though, because it seems as if the scale of the allegations makes that — I guess it causes a gut check on that, because it seems as if this was a known thing among some on the Hill. This seems as if, certainly, there was a community of women who were organizing around this. You hadn’t heard anything about any of that?

Not about the allegations we’re talking about, the sexual assault, the predatory behavior. You know, there is a culture in DC that certainly exists — where not just him, but many other politicians — we heard of someone that’s being, you know, flirty. But never inappropriate, never predatory, never toward staff, and things of that nature. But look, this is the kind of thing that makes all of us relook at what we have been accepting versus not accepting. 

Part of the reason some of this has come back on you, though, is that you went out of your way to defend Swalwell just this month, writing recently on X that “Eric is a fighter.” 

Considering now what you know, or considering that you’re saying you heard rumors about him being flirty, why proactively defend him?

Well, for two reasons: [First] because we had heard this, about him, about other politicians, for a long time, and nothing had ever surfaced, right? Number two, he knew exactly what to say to me, because I had just gotten off a very hard 2024 campaign, where I had some of the worst things said about me on commercials that my kids have to see.

And [Swalwell’s team] and some of his staff pushed that button on me. And it was a mistake. I mean, without a doubt, it was a mistake. Let’s be clear: Knowing now everything I know of, I would never have done it. But knowing now everything I know, especially of sexual assault, sexually predatory [behavior], we would not have had the relationship that we had.

There have been some that have said that this is also a question of your judgment. I wanted you to respond to that. I mean, you’ve been kind of openly embracing the question of a 2028 race. What do you say to someone who looks at this situation and sees it as a cause to question you?

To be a hundred percent honest, you know, I am more human first than a politician. And my judgment was off because of many reasons. But number one, because I knew this man as a family man, first. We weren’t just work colleagues. Our families ate dinner together; our kids were in camps together. And I have to learn from this, and I will learn from this. 

But you know, for me, it’s not a 2028 question. It’s about what it means to be a better, first boss in my office, and also a better senator to my constituents.