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Representative Eric Swalwell, a Democrat from California<\/a>, said on Monday he would resign from Congress following multiple allegations of sexual assault and misconduct that ended his bid for governor.<\/p>\n Swalwell was a facing a growing chorus of bipartisan calls for him to step down or face an expulsion vote, a day after he announced that he would suspend his campaign <\/a>for governor of California.<\/p>\n \u201cI am deeply sorry to my family, staff, and constituents for mistakes in judgment I\u2019ve made in my past,\u201d Swalwell said in a statement shared on social media. \u201cI will fight the serious false allegation made against me. However, I must take responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I did make.\u201d<\/p>\n Acknowledging the threat of removal from office, Swalwell said: \u201cExpelling anyone in Congress without due process, within days of an allegation being made, is wrong. But it\u2019s also wrong for my constituents to have me distracted from my duties. Therefore, I plan to resign my seat in Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n The decision came after the House ethics committee had announced earlier it had opened an investigation into Swalwell.<\/p>\n The bipartisan committee said in a statement it would scrutinize \u201callegations that [Swalwell] may have engaged in sexual misconduct, including towards an employee working under his supervision\u201d.<\/p>\n Swalwell, who polls showed was narrowly leading the race to replace Governor Gavin Newsom, suspended his campaign<\/a> after the San Francisco Chronicle<\/a> reported that a female former staffer said the congressman sexually assaulted her twice. CNN published<\/a> a similar account hours later, as well as allegations from three other women of Swalwell sending them unwanted explicit photos or messages.<\/p>\n Swalwell was facing the threat of an expulsion vote in the Republican-dominated House of Representatives<\/a> alongside other lawmakers who face accusations of wrongdoing.<\/p>\n A top target is Tony Gonzales, a Texas Republican who acknowledged<\/a> having an extramarital affair with a staffer who later died by suicide. Other lawmakers have called for the expulsion of Cory Mills, a Florida Republican who is accused of a variety<\/a> of ethical lapses, and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Florida Democrat who has been indicted<\/a> on federal charges related to funnelling $5m in disaster relief funds from her company to her campaign.<\/p>\n All are under investigation by the House ethics committee, which is evenly divided between Democrats<\/a> and Republicans.<\/p>\n On Monday, the Democratic congresswoman Nydia Vel\u00e1zquez said: \u201cSwalwell, Gonzales, Cherfilus-McCormick, and Mills should resign. If they refuse, they should be expelled.\u201d The Republican congresswoman Nancy Mace had over the weekend endorsed expelling those members, writing on X: \u201cTime to clean House.\u201d<\/p>\n The Republican congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna said she would introduce a resolution to expel Swalwell, while the Democrat Teresa Leger Fern\u00e1ndez said she would introduce another to remove Gonzales from his seat.<\/p>\n \u201cAs I\u2019ve said, Gonzales and Swalwell are not fit to serve in Congress given their sexual transgressions against women who work for them. They should resign or be expelled,\u201d Leger Fern\u00e1ndez said.<\/p>\n Arizona\u2019s Ruben Gallego, known to be one of Swalwell\u2019s close friends, also released a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cI support the ethics committee\u2019s investigation and believe Eric Swalwell is no longer fit to be a member of Congress. He should be expelled from Congress. I want to be clear: I had no knowledge of the allegations of assault, harassment, and predatory behavior against Eric Swalwell,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI trusted someone who I believed was a friend, but it is now clear that he is not the person I thought I knew. The women who have come forward have shown courage. They deserve to be believed, to be supported, and to see justice served.\u201d<\/p>\n Expulsions of House members require a two-thirds vote of the chamber, and happen rarely. Only six members have been forced from office, the most recent being the New York congressman George Santos, a fabulist who was expelled in 2023 after the House ethics found he misused campaign funds<\/a>. He pleaded guilty<\/a> to an array of federal fraud charges, but Donald Trump later commuted<\/a> his sentence.<\/p>\n Swalwell\u2019s exit from the governor\u2019s race in heavily Democratic California complicates a contest from which no clear frontrunner has yet emerged.<\/p>\n The leading Democratic candidates now include the former congresswoman Katie Porter, Tom Steyer, a billionaire entrepreneur who ran for president in 2020, former health and human services secretary Xavier Becerra and San Jose\u2019s mayor, Matt Mahan.<\/p>\n