--- title: Eric Swalwell Drops Out of the 2020 Presidential Race description: He is the first serious candidate to drop out of the Democratic primary. canonical: https://time.com/5622071/eric-swalwell-2020-campaign/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-07-08T16:47:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-12T22:40:44.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Eric Swalwell Drops Out of the 2020 Presidential Race og:description: He is the first serious candidate to drop out of the Democratic primary og:url: https://time.com/5622071/eric-swalwell-2020-campaign/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltffddb1b351c896bf/6989ff50457a5296dfd626f6/dem-debate-june27-12.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: US-VOTE-2020-DEMOCRATS-DEBATE og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Eric Swalwell Drops Out of the 2020 Presidential Race twitter:description: He is the first serious candidate to drop out of the Democratic primary twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltffddb1b351c896bf/6989ff50457a5296dfd626f6/dem-debate-june27-12.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Eric Swalwell Drops Out of the 2020 Presidential Race > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=5d61bfeb-1d88-4cc1-932e-25e3efa72777&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/) and [Lissandra Villa](https://time.com/author/lissandra-villa/) Updated: Dec 12, 2023 10:40 PM UTCPublished: Jul 8, 2019 4:47 PM UTC  Democratic presidential hopeful former US Representative for California's 15th congressional district Eric Swalwell speaks during the second Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season hosted by NBC News at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, Florida, June 27, 2019. Democratic presidential hopeful former US Representative for California's 15th congressional district Eric Swalwell speaks during the second Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season hosted by NBC News at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, Florida, June 27, 2019. Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/) and [Lissandra Villa](https://time.com/author/lissandra-villa/) Updated: Dec 12, 2023 10:40 PM UTCPublished: Jul 8, 2019 4:47 PM UTC California Rep. Eric Swalwell became the [first serious presidential candidate](https://time.com/5460620/2020-presidential-candidates/) to drop from the Democratic primary on Monday. “Today ends our presidential campaign,” he said at a press conference Monday afternoon. The 37-year-old Congressman launched his campaign this past April. He has been anointed a rising star in the House of Representatives, where he has been mentored by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. But his presidential campaign had been floundering; although he qualified for the [first Democratic debate](https://time.com/5608626/first-2020-democratic-debate-latest-news/) last month, his polling placed him in the bottom tier of candidates. During his tenure in Congress, Swalwell became best-known for his omnipresent cable news appearances. In addition to serving on the House judiciary and intelligence committees, he took gun violence as his signature issue during his presidential run. At the press conference, Swalwell said he wanted to be honest about his odds of winning. “If there was a viable chance, I would not be standing here today,” he said. Most recently, he took up the “pass the torch” mantle at the first Democratic primary debate, calling for the presidential nominee to reflect generational change within the party. “We can’t be a forward looking party if we look to the past for our leadership,” Swalwell [said at the debates](https://time.com/5616884/2020-democratic-debate-night-two-analysis/), aiming his comments largely at former Vice President Joe Biden. He said that he does not yet know who he will endorse in the primary, making a joke about one of the star players on the U.S. women’s soccer team. “If Megan Rapinoe gets in the race, I’m probably going to endorse her,” he said. Former West Virginia state Sen. Richard Ojeda [dropped out of the 2020 primary](https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/25/politics/ojeda-ends-2020-campaign/index.html) in January, just weeks after he launched his campaign. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5622071/eric-swalwell-2020-campaign/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5622071/eric-swalwell-2020-campaign/"},"headline":"Eric Swalwell Drops Out of the 2020 Presidential Race","datePublished":"2019-07-08T16:47:41.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-12T22:40:44.000Z","description":"He is the first serious candidate to drop out of the Democratic primary.","url":"https://time.com/5622071/eric-swalwell-2020-campaign/","keywords":["2020 Election","California","Congress","Joe Biden","Debates"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltffddb1b351c896bf/6989ff50457a5296dfd626f6/dem-debate-june27-12.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Lissandra Villa","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/lissandra-villa/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltffddb1b351c896bf/6989ff50457a5296dfd626f6/dem-debate-june27-12.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-VOTE-2020-DEMOCRATS-DEBATE","caption":"US-VOTE-2020-DEMOCRATS-DEBATE","creditText":"Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2020-election/","name":"2020 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5622071/eric-swalwell-2020-campaign/","name":"Eric Swalwell Drops Out of the 2020 Presidential Race"}}]}] ```