Confronting Eric Swalwell

Reporters and content creators team up in the name of accountability. Plus: A wild tale of misrepresentation out west; following the money in Pennsylvania.

When Eric Swalwell, a Democrat from California, officially resigned from Congress on Tuesday, it was the culmination of months of work by journalists trying to verify whispers that had grown too loud to ignore. The San Francisco Chronicle broke the first story last Friday, reporting allegations from a former congressional staffer that Swalwell sexually assaulted her. CNN quickly followed with its own reporting, which included an account from the same woman and added new accusers to the record. Within days, the stories ended Swalwell’s gubernatorial campaign, his congressional tenure, and likely his political future.

Two content creators, Arielle Fodor, a former teacher who goes by “Mrs. Frazzled,” and Cheyenne Hunt, a lawyer and former congressional candidate, played a key part in the story getting out. They spent weeks publicly sharing allegations against Swalwell while reporters worked in the background to verify them. As CNN noted in its piece: “Most of the women who spoke to CNN initially reached out to one of these influencers, and said that before the social media attention, they had assumed they were alone in their experiences with Swalwell.”