Steyer Ad About Swalwell and the Angry Dem Reaction – RedState
As we’ve reported, it’s quite surprising to see two Republicans leading the polls in the California gubernatorial race.
CALIFORNIA POLL – Governor (top two ahead)
🟥 Chad Bianco: 16%
🟥Steve Hilton: 15
🟦Eric Swalwell: 14%
🟦Katie Porter: 13%
🟦Tom Steyer: 8%
🟦Matt Mahan: 3%RBI strategy. for the union (Dem) | 1/25-29https://t.co/WaFHonC3D8 pic.twitter.com/el0LneznD4
– Interactive Polls (@IAPolls2022) February 13, 2026
This is a Democratic-aligned poll. Other polls also showed an increase for the Republicans, with many undecided.
READ MORE: California Could Do the Funniest Thing: GOP Leads in 2026 Gubernatorial Polls
Part of the reason is that Democrats have done such a poor job, and many are simply fed up.
Another reason is that the Democratic vote is split among different Democrats, with top Democrats appealing to various factions of their party. Right now, it seems like they would rather fight each other than unite around a consolidated candidate.
A good example of this is the attack ad released by billionaire Tom Steyer against Rep. Eric Swalwell (CA-15).
Call me old fashioned, but you usually have to show up for work to get a promotion. pic.twitter.com/Ol2U8OTO41
-Tom Steyer (@TomSteyer) February 13, 2026
“Call me old-fashioned, but you usually have to show up for work to get a promotion,” Steyer snapped. The video included clips of Swalwell swimming and lifting weights during the 2025 summer vacation, saying he should be working. But he also pointed out that he was 95 votes short.
“In 2025, Eric Swalwell missed 95 votes. That’s more than the representative. Raúl Grijalva lack. Rep. Grijalva died in March 2025. Since declaring himself governor, Eric Swalwell has missed 68% of the votes it was his job to win. He didn’t show up for work and now he’s asking for a promotion.”
It’s actually even worse than what Steyer says.
Data from the nonpartisan Congressional tracking website GovTrack shows that Swalwell missed 102 of 139, or 73 percent, of roll-call votes between September 19, 2025 and February 9, 2026.
So that’s a good point. We’ve talked about this before.
READ MORE: Swalwell tries to challenge Greg Gutfeld for making fun of Lame Gym videos, but embarrasses himself instead
These facts, however, irked some other Democrats, including Rep. Jimmy Gomez (CA-34), who called Steyer “angry” and “old.”
I’m starting to see a pattern. Every time a new poll comes in, old Tom gets angry. pic.twitter.com/0Nf7PTagAa
– Jimmy Gomez (@JimmyGomezCA) February 13, 2026
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), who had served as Swalwell’s national campaign chairman during his failed 2020 presidential campaign, was not a happy camper.
Tom, as you sat in your $30 million home on January 6, Eric Swalwell was with me on the House floor – fighting to save our democracy from a mob.
If you want to know why people don’t like billionaires, it’s bullshit like that. https://t.co/ll0DkZV0bB
– Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) February 13, 2026
“Tom, as you sat in your $30 million home on January 6, Eric Swalwell was with me on the House floor – fighting to save our democracy from a mob,” Gallego retorted. “If you want to know why people don’t like billionaires, that’s just bullshit.”
“Fighting to save our democracy? » What were they doing, holding people back at the door? What a weird comment. Of course, this doesn’t address the fundamental problem Steyer points out, which is voting and Swalwell not doing his job.
The top response to Gallego was this one, depicting Gallego and Swalwell, shirtless on camels together during a trip to Qatar in 2021.
– Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) February 13, 2026
Gotta love the Democrats who are fighting and proving how unworthy they are of this office.
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