Some political announcements land with gravitas. Others land with confetti. Then there are the announcements that land with the unmistakable thud of a man who once got caught on national television sounding like he had eaten a bean burrito on a deadline.

Eric Swalwell has announced that he will run for governor of California. He did it on Jimmy Kimmel Live, which is fitting since he has spent most of his career living as a punchline.

But Steve Hilton got wind of the announcement a few days ago.

Apparently Eric Swalwell will jump into the California governor race on Jimmy Kimmel this week, “because it will give him a new and more powerful platform to attack President Trump.”

What?? Candidates should run for office to HELP people, not attack their political enemies! pic.twitter.com/cDAz4NlsJY

— steve hilton (@SteveHiltonx) November 17, 2025

California has rising crime, a shrinking middle class, entire neighborhoods swallowed by tent cities, and a cost of living that breaks families. Eric Swalwell looked at all of that and still did not talk about serving the people. He talked about fighting Trump. He is not running to fix California, which he called a country, by the way. Goodness gracious.

Swalwell is running because he wants a bigger stage, a louder microphone, and four long years to scream about a man who lives three thousand miles away. This is not public service. It is a political obsession and the first stepping stone toward his next failed presidential audition.

This is the same Eric Swalwell who gave America the accidental blast heard around the world on live TV, followed it up with a gym video where the weights clearly overpowered him, and spent years involved with a woman the FBI later confirmed was a Chinese spy. And now he thinks he should run California. Lord help that state.

Let’s remember something here. Swalwell ran for president once. It lasted all of five minutes. I think the announcement video had more screen time than the campaign itself. So California needs to ask itself a simple question: do you really want a guy who quits faster than a toddler in a t-ball league? Because if the state wants a governor who already proved he can’t stick to the big stage, Eric Swalwell is standing right there waving his résumé.

And now he jumps into the most overcrowded Democratic primary since the last overcrowded Democratic primary. Katie Porter wants it. Xavier Becerra wants it. Villaraigosa wants someone to remember he exists. Tom Steyer probably already bought the yard signs. It looks like a clearance rack of political leftovers. And Swalwell still manages to be the comic relief.

Eric Swalwell announced his run for Governor of California.

Describe him in five words or fewer. pic.twitter.com/Q9oXzsOZIy

— I Meme Therefore I Am (@ImMeme0) November 21, 2025

Swalwell says he is ready to bring the fight home. The only question is which home. Californians are still trying to figure out where he actually lives, since his mortgage filings seem far more confident about Washington than California. Hard to govern a state when your paperwork thinks you are a part-time resident with a full-time East Coast hobby.

California is a beautiful but battered state, filled with people who deserve an actual leader. Someone who shows up, tells the truth, and does the work. What they do not need is another politician who treats public office like a personal spotlight. Or a man who seems more interested in pleasing cable news bookers than solving real problems. California has seen enough of that kind of nonsense.

Swalwell walks through politics like a man who has never once questioned his own choices. Give him a microphone and he acts like the smartest person in the room, even when everyone else is wondering how he got in the room to begin with. That kind of confidence might work on cable news, but it does not translate to governing a state in crisis. California needs clarity. Swalwell brings foolishness.

But here comes Eric anyway, stepping right into the spotlight with the confidence of a man who has never once read his own headlines. The campaign trail will be chaos. The punchlines will write themselves. California gets to live with the results.

Feature Image: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons/edited in Canva Pro