US Representative Eric Swalwell is running for governor of California

Rep. Eric Swalwell, the Democrat who served as House manager in President Donald Trump’s 2021 impeachment trial, has launched his bid for governor of California.

Swalwell highlighted his desire to help Californians thrive when he announced his candidacy on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” On ABC. Thursday night.

Read more: Tom Steyer is running for governor of California as a populist billionaire

“Our country, this great country, needs a fighter and a protector,” Swalwell said. “Someone who lowers prices and raises wages.”

He also touched on his clashes with Trump, saying he was ready to “bring this fight back home.”

“Our state is under attack,” Swalwell said in a statement on his campaign website. Trump has “militarized our streets, eliminated cancer research, canceled clean energy climate projects, and hounded our immigrant friends and neighbors through their workplaces, children’s schools, and houses of worship.”

Swalwell’s announcement on Kimmel’s late-night show came after renewed attacks from Trump on ABC and Kimmel this week. The network temporarily suspended the comedy in September over remarks made in the wake of the assassination of Republican activist Charlie Kirk. The ABC lifted the suspension after a public outcry. On Thursday, the president urged ABC to “get off the air” in a social media post.

Swalwell represents the Northern California district where he was first elected in 2012. He was a candidate in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary before withdrawing and endorsing Joe Biden.

More than a half-dozen Democrats and two Republicans are competing in all-party primaries in June, with the top two vote-getters advancing to the general election in November to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom. Other Democratic candidates include billionaire businessman and activist Tom Steyer, former Rep. Katie Porter, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and former US Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.