Eric Swalwell is reportedly dropping out of the 2020 race

Eric Swalwell.
(Image credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

We may have our first significant dropout of the 2020 presidential race.

The Los Angeles Times' Mark Z. Barabak is reporting that Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) plans to announce this afternoon that he's ending his 2020 presidential campaign and running for re-election in the House of Representatives.

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Swalwell had previously fueled speculation that he's dropping out of the race after canceling New Hampshire stops at the last minute and announcing a press conference for Monday afternoon, The Hill reports.

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This would come three months to the day that Swalwell announced his candidacy for president on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. He participated in the first round of presidential debates last month and in a notable exchange urged former Vice President Joe Biden to "pass the torch" to the next generation. Swalwell, who has been polling at 1 percent or below, had not yet secured a position in the second round of debates, as FiveThirtyEight noted. Asked in a post-debate interview about his low polling numbers, Swalwell responded that it's still "early" in the race.

Amid these reports on Monday, Swalwell replied to a tweet from The Washington Post's Dave Weigel, which noted that the rules for the third debate would likely result in many candidates not qualifying but that no one is complaining that the rules are rigged against Swalwell, with the "hands up" emoji. Brendan Morrow

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Brendan Morrow

Brendan is a staff writer at The Week. A graduate of Hofstra University with a degree in journalism, he also writes about horror films for Bloody Disgusting and has previously contributed to The Cheat Sheet, Heavy, WhatCulture, and more. He lives in New York City surrounded by Star Wars posters.