California gubernatorial candidate Eric Swalwell wrote a graphic, sexually charged poem as a teenager that is now resurfacing amid his run for higher office, according to a report.
The Democrat authored the piece at age 19 while attending Campbell University, where he contributed to the campus literary magazine “The Lyricist” and wrote a column for the student newspaper, the Daily Mail reported.
The poem, titled “Hungover From Burgundy,” depicts two partners meeting at a hotel before engaging in what Swalwell described as “formless and magnificent” intimacy in a “flurry of limbs and nails.” The narrator appears to revel in the encounter, including being bitten.
“While I screamed / She bent her lips to mine,” the poem reads. It continues, “Kissing till veins imploded and exploded … For bounded mouths cannot speak of parting.”
Swalwell also wrote: “And there beauty was, formless and magnificent — a flurry of limbs and nails. She chased and I ran, I chased and she ran.”
Another passage states: “Atop my hotel she stopped, and I lept for cloth and tan, my anxious arm she bit — my scar is beautiful.”
Swalwell continued: “While I screamed, she bent her lips to mine. Kissing till veins imploded and exploded, till blood rolled down our chins, for bounded mouths cannot speak of parting.”
The poem closes with: “In the morning, I awoke beside beauty’s shadow — her form sloppy and her legs pale. My scar lost, my lips cracked and dry. And we groaned simultaneously.”
REPORT: Eric Swalwell Could Be Disqualified From Running For California Governor
A spokesman downplayed the decades-old writing in a statement to the Daily Mail, saying, “If you think Eric’s poetry at 18 was bad, you should see his diary entries from when he was 12.”
Separate college-era commentary by Swalwell has also drawn renewed scrutiny. As a sophomore, he wrote pieces that critics say expressed sympathy for convicted “cop killers,” including Mumia Abu-Jamal and Leonard Peltier, according to the Daily Mail.
Abu-Jamal was convicted in the 1981 murder of a Philadelphia police officer. Peltier was found guilty in the 1975 killing of two FBI agents. Both cases have long been championed by activists who argue the defendants were politically prosecuted, while remaining deeply controversial within law enforcement circles.
The writings are resurfacing as Swalwell, a former prosecutor who later led a hate crimes unit, campaigns for governor. Political opponents have seized on the material, questioning how his youthful rhetoric aligns with his subsequent career in the criminal justice system.
REPORT: Eric Swalwell Could Be Disqualified From Running For California Governor
Swalwell’s past contact with Christine Fang, also known as Fang Fang, has likewise reentered the spotlight.
Between 2011 and 2015, Fang — later identified by U.S. intelligence officials as a suspected Chinese operative — cultivated ties with several local and national politicians. She assisted with fundraising for Swalwell’s 2014 re-election campaign and helped place an intern in his congressional office, according to reporting at the time.
In 2015, federal investigators provided Swalwell with a defensive briefing regarding Fang’s suspected links to China’s Ministry of State Security. Swalwell then cut off contact.
He was not accused of wrongdoing. A House Ethics Committee investigation concluded in 2023 without action. Swalwell was later removed from the House Intelligence Committee by then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who cited national security concerns.
