Special election in California's 14th District fills Swalwell's term

Voters in California’s 14th Congressional District were deciding whether to keep the East Bay seat in Democratic hands after Eric Swalwell’s abrupt resignation left the race split between an interim contest and a full-term campaign. The special election on June 16 was set to fill the remainder of Swalwell’s term through January 2027, while a separate June 2 primary already sent state Sen. Aisha Wahab and former Dublin Mayor Melissa Hernandez to the November ballot for the next full term.

Swalwell resigned on April 13 after sexual assault and misconduct allegations were reported. He denied the allegations, but his exit still scrambled the political map in a district centered on Fremont, Hayward and Livermore that heavily favors Democrats. For East Bay voters, the election became less about partisan control than about trust, with the seat serving as a test of whether Democrats would rally around continuity, demand a clean break, or turn the race into a broader judgment on accountability.

The special-election field drew 11 candidates, and the rules gave the contest an unusually sharp edge: if any candidate won more than 50% in the special primary, that person would finish the term outright. That possibility made the June 16 vote more than a routine placeholder. It also left Democrats in a deep-blue district with a narrow question hanging over the ballots, whether the party’s voters would back a candidate who could steady the seat quickly or spread the decision out through a longer fight.

The overlapping calendar added to the confusion. In Alameda County, ballots for the June 2 regular primary and the June 16 special election arrived within weeks of each other, creating a rare two-ballot month for some voters choosing both an interim representative and a nominee for the full term. Wahab led the June 2 primary with about 38% of the vote, while Hernandez finished second with about 17%, setting up a November matchup for the district’s next full term.

Special-election results in California are unofficial on election night, and county officials must report final results by June 25, 2026, with state certification following shortly after. Ballotpedia counted 13 special elections called for the 119th Congress as of June 16, underscoring how often vacancies have surfaced in Washington this year. In California’s 14th District, though, the stakes were more pointed: a brief term, a safe Democratic seat, and a vacancy opened by a resignation that reverberated far beyond the East Bay.