Swalwell was born in Sac City, Iowa and raised in Dublin, California.[5] He graduated from Dublin High School (Class of 1999).[6]
He attended Campbell University in North Carolina on a soccer scholarship from 1999 to 2001.[7][8] He lost the scholarship after suffering an injury.[5] He then transferred to the University of Maryland, College Park.[7] In 2003, he received a bachelor's degree in Government and Politics at Maryland, and in 2006 earned his J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law. He served on the College Park, Maryland city council as its student representative.[9]
In 2014, Swalwell announced that he would serve as chairman of Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley's O' Say Can You See PAC's Young Professionals Leadership Circle due to his friendship with the governor. He made clear that his support was about the 2014 midterm elections and not an endorsement of a potential presidential bid by O'Malley in 2016.[10] However, Swalwell did ultimately endorse O'Malley in July 2015.[11]
Local political career Edit
In 2001 and 2002, Swalwell interned for Ellen Tauscher, a United States Representative, in Washington, D.C., focusing on legislative research and constituent outreach and services.[9] He worked as an Alameda County deputy district attorney, a Dublin planning commissioner, and a Dublin city councilman.[4][5][12]
In September 2011, Swalwell filed papers to run for Congress in the 15th District. The district had previously been the 13th, represented by 20-term incumbent Pete Stark, a fellow Democrat. Stark had represented the district since 1973, seven years before Swalwell had been born. He took a leave of absence from the Dublin city council in order to run for the seat.[5] While he was running for the seat, an attempted recall of Swalwell from the Dublin City Council was begun, but after he won election to US House, the attempt was later abandoned.
Swalwell was endorsed by the San Francisco Chronicle.[12][13] During the 2012 election cycle, Swalwell was accused by the Stark campaign of being a Tea Party candidate. The accusation was refuted by Swalwell and the San Jose Mercury News, which also endorsed Swalwell.[14] Stark refused to debate Swalwell during the campaign. In response to Stark's refusal to debate, Swalwell organized a mock debate with an actor playing Pete Stark, quoting him verbatim when answering the moderator. Other campaign gimmicks included Chinese-manufactured rubber ducks, and a dreadlocked, bearded information man.[4][15][16] Swalwell was able to contest Stark in the general election because of a new primary system in California. Under that new system, the top two primary vote-getters (Stark and Swalwell, in this case) advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation.[17]
In the November 2012 election, Swalwell defeated Stark, 52.1% to 47.9%.[18] snip
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