Gubernatorial Candidate Eric Swalwell Holds Sacramento Town Hall Meeting
By Ras H. Siddiqui
Democratic Party candidate for California Governor and current US Congressman Eric Swalwell held a townhall meeting at the Scottish Rite Masonic Center in Sacramento on Tuesday April 7, 2026. It was a packed house with a diverse and friendly audience except for one incident of heckling which had more to do with politics in the Middle East than California. The Congressman spoke quite candidly on several topics including immigrants, the state economy, and the environment. He also answered questions from regular working-class Californians, many of them union members and state workers.
It is a very crowded race for California Governor this year with several Democrats running, to the point where there is a concern that the top two candidates may end up being Republicans, former Fox News famed Steve Hilton (already endorsed by President Trump) and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco. California law only allows the two highest vote getters in the primaries (being held on June 2 nd this year) to run for office in November irrespective of their party affiliations. It does not help that Democrats are currently putting each other down as Swalwell (currently considered the Democratic frontrunner according to some polls) has had to defend himself recently on whether he really lives in California, past harassment, and taking campaign contributions from Political Action Committees.
This is not the first event that this writer has covered which Congressman Swalwell has headlined. Two that we can recall were held by a Pakistani American group named Mashal out of San Ramon, California. From then on Swalwell has become a familiar name and face in our community. Another reason for my interest in attending this time around was that I also happen to be a member of the SEIU Local 1000, California’s largest state employee union, from whom an emailed invitation was received. They had a substantial presence at this town hall meeting and some of the pictures used here for this article are from their Communications Director, Amber Rich, to whom we owe a huge thank you.
Swalwell asked everyone to raise our left hand if we thought that our state and country are in the most trouble that we have seen and followed up with a request to raise our right hand too if we believe that California and our country are in the most trouble that we have seen in our lifetimes (to which he received a great response). He added that this was the reason that he was running for Governor. He then shared a story about a couple in Iowa (where he was born) named Vicky and Eric (not him) Swalwell, his parents. After struggling and with Eric losing his job for standing up for his principles they moved to California, just like a Syrian refugee went after he got his girlfriend pregnant in Wisconsin. They had a boy named Steve who would grow up and create a lot of jobs (he founded a company named Apple). That is the magic of California, said Swalwell.
The Congressman lamented that right now people in our state are scared because prices are too high. So, the next Governor of California has two tasks: 1) To put a firewall between Californians and the President and his ICE Agents, and 2) Bring down the cost of living in the state! He added that he currently represents the third most diverse congressional district in America with about 40 percent foreign-born residents who may currently feel intimidated and that he wants to continue to protect the most vulnerable amongst them. He said that he has introduced legislation in Congress to ensure that ICE observes the law, and when he becomes Governor, if they violate our laws, they could face local repercussions like losing their driver’s licenses.
The second topic, costs and affordability in California, got the most traction at the event. Swalwell first shared the efforts that he would make to bring down the cost of housing in our state, which has become a formidable obstacle for young people who want to live here. The age of first-time home buyers in our state is now over 40 years, and they are hardworking dual income families. He said that in California we are a Blue State which is held down by Red Tape and that he would do everything that he could to increase housing supply. He said that families should be able to afford a house during their first working decade in California.
Swalwell also criticized President Trump for removing a large number of Californians from subsidized healthcare coverage. He said that currently in congress he has had a solid record on defending the Affordable Care Act and that he would continue supporting it. On affordability for common people, he said that under his leadership, we will not be a Corporate Welfare State and that his emphasis will also be on increasing worker wages. In the “New California,” being the fourth largest economy in the world will mean something to you, he said.
In the Q&A session that followed, affordability of housing, healthcare, goods and services and retirement continued to be hot topics of discussion. And before any state employee could mention the issue, Congressman Swalwell beat them to it and said that he supports telework, and that working from home also saves the state money.
(FYI: Eric Swalwell will not be running for his US congressional seat again and Afghan American, California State Senator Aisha Wahab is campaigning to replace him and could use our support.)
