You may remember California Congressman Eric Swalwell from his threat to use nukes against gun owners who refuse to give in to confiscation. He’s apparently about to announce that he’s the 139th Democrat candidate in the 2020 race for president.
Swalwell, a fourth-term congressman from Northern California who’s been involved in politics since he won a city-council seat as a college senior at the University of Maryland, is 38 years old. He has been building up to a run for months, with his staff stepping up outreach to donors in recent weeks. But the gun-control focus has developed quietly. Last week, he invited Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, to join him at an annual event with veterans at a shooting range. He tweeted a photo of himself firing at a target and one posing with Watts on the range, but made no mention of his political plans.
“It’s a true sea change in presidential politics that the candidates are competing to be the strongest on this issue, which means Americans will have a plethora of gun-sense champions to choose from,” Watts told me when I reached out to her on Wednesday. “The calculus on guns has changed, and gun safety is no longer a third rail—in fact, making this issue a priority in your policy platform is how you win. Representative Swalwell has a long track record of being good on the issue of gun safety, and we welcome him to the race.”
– Edward-Isaac Dovere in Eric Swalwell Is Running for President on Gun Safety
