Things are not looking great for Congressman and California gubernatorial candidate Eric Swalwell (D-CA). Not only is he facing accusations of funneling campaign cash to his wife as part of absurd personal spending on childcare, but he is also facing accusations of misusing campaign cash to pay for a live-in nanny who wasn’t even working in the US legally. Those accusations come alongside allegations of sexual assault that exploded over the weekend, and might tank his career, as it has ended his gubernatorial campaign.
For reference, a recent report on his campaign expenditures conducted by Fox News Digital found that the congressman spent an incredible $200,000 on childcare-related costs over the course of just 2019 to 2025, and that the spending can be gleaned from the Federal Election Commission filings. In fact, he spent a huge $22,000 over just October to December 2025. Yet worse, the congressman’s gubernatorial campaign was apparently involved in the childcare spending scandal too, and in an even worse way: spending data from it, again as revealed by the FEC, reveals that his gubernatorial campaign made out three payments totaling over $6,000 to his wife, Brittany Swalwell.
But it gets worse. Now Swalwell is also facing allegations from the New York Post that he used campaign funds to pay a live-in nanny from Brazil who lacked proper work authorization for her employment. That is Amanda Barbosa, a 33-year-old from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Barbosa entered the United States in 2021 as an au pair, on a two-year visa for the role. She was authorized to work as an au pair until December of 2022.
Swalwell, however, appears to have kept employing her for years despite the fact that she was working illegally after that December 2022 deadline. FEC records show that he first started paying her in the late fall of 2021, with his campaign sending her $3,914. Then, in 2022, his campaign paid her $46,930.
After that, the payments from his campaign temporarily stopped. Instead, Barbosa appears to have been paid directly by Swalwell, who was in turn reimbursed for $52,262 in “childcare” expenses paid out of pocket over 2023 and 2024. Then, once Barbosa got a new visa, she started being paid by the Swalwell campaign again, receiving from it another $38,905 in campaign funds.
So, from that, it appears that Swalwell knew she was unauthorized to work in the United States, as he stopped paying her through the campaign, but then returned to doing so once she had a visa. Further, it is unclear if his using campaign cash to pay the childcare expenses was even legal in the first place.
Adding to his woes are the massive issues he faces regarding accusations of s*xual assault, as y both CNN and the San Francisco Chronicle published reports in which they detailed allegations of s*xual misconduct against the congressman that have been made by a former staffer and three other women, and are being investigated by the Manhattan DA’s office.
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So, his whole career is imploding under a fury of allegations. Eric Daugherty, commenting on the combined effect of that, said, “As if it couldn’t get any WORSE for Eric Swalwell: He is now accused of violating IMMIGRATION and EMPLOYMENT law to keep an illegal alien nanny from Brazil in America. This dude is so COOKED!. A DHS complaint claims Swalwell paid her UNDER THE TABLE with CAMPAIGN FUNDS for 2 years when she didn’t have a valid work authorization, per NYP. A recently filed Labor complaint claims that Swalwell and his wife “LIED to the feds to keep Amanda Barbosa working for them”. He’s also facing s*xual assault allegations, and possibly the release of the FANG FANG files.”
Swalwell, for his part, told CNN, “These allegations are false and come on the eve of an election against the front-runner for governor. For nearly 20 years, I have served the public – as a prosecutor and a congressman and have always protected women. I will defend myself with the facts and where necessary bring legal action.”
However, he also dropped out of the gubernatorial race, writing on X, “I am suspending my campaign for Governor. To my family, staff, friends, and supporters, I am deeply sorry for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past. I will fight the serious, false allegations that have been made — but that’s my fight, not a campaign’s.”
Watch him here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video