The 18th Democrat to announce his or her candidacy in the 2020 race for president is none other than 38-year-old Eric Swalwell, who represents California's 15th congressional district. Admittedly, the race is a tight squeeze already, so many are already torn on whether or not he’s effectively reading the room.
Is now Swalwell’s time? Whether you think it’s worth tossing his hat into the race or not, his ideas are definitely worth investigating. After all, he’s one of the youngest candidates in the race, suggesting that he’s likely to stay in politics for a good long while.
As a basic overview, Swalwell supports the Green New Deal, wants to raise payroll taxes on Social Security so the wealthy contribute more, believes Trump has colluded with the Russians, and wants significant public money to go into public health research for issues including ALS and cancer.
Perhaps what he’s most known for (aside from his age), however, is his view on gun control.
Let’s break down his gun control plan and a few other key points below.
1. Swalwell is one of the least wealthy members of Congress.
This is determined based on his most recent personal financial disclosure form. In 2017, his estimated net worth was between negative $10,000 and negative $149,000. Included in this is his student loan debt, which ranges between $50,001 and $100,000, with him verbally noting that it’s at the $100,000 mark. It’s also been reported that he has between $25,001 and $65,000 in credit card debt.
Swalwell helped both introduce and reintroduce the act that would, basically, make certain attacks on members of the press a federal crime, with the idea being that journalists currently lack these protections.
3. He first campaigned for a U.S. House seat in 2011.
At the time, his campaign committee raised just under $8 million.
4. Gun control is his big, big, big campaign issue.
In terms of policy, gun control seems to be his number one issue. For example, if elected, he says that within his first 100 days in office, he will push for a ban on military-style semi-automatic assault weapons. In addition to this, he wants to enact a federal buyback program for the 15 million assault weapons in the U.S.
In an interview with ABC News on Tuesday morning, he said, "I’m telling folks, keep your rifles, keep your shotguns, keep your pistols, we just want the most dangerous weapons out of the hands of the most dangerous people. Most gun owners believe that."
5. He has creative ideas on how to make college affordable.
It seems that every Democratic candidate knows that paying for college is an issue people (especially, though not exclusively, young people) care about. Swalwell’s idea is to have no-interest student loans, as well as tax-free employer contributions. In terms of avoiding debt entirely, he supports debt-free public universities in exchange for work-study or similar community service.
Perhaps in the very best way to appeal to millennial voters, he announced on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert:
Are you glad to see Congressman Swalwell join the race?
Want to read more about other longshot Democrats joining the race for 2020? Read up on Pete Buttigieg and Kirsten Gillibrand next!