As a registered California voter, I have filed a Petition for Writ of Mandate in Sacramento Superior Court seeking an order to compel California Secretary of State Shirley Weber to decline certification of Congressman Eric Swalwell as a candidate for Governor of California in the 2026 election.
The case number is 26WM000011. It has been assigned to Judge Shelleyanne Chang in Department 21.
The court documents and related links are available at my new website: SwalwellIsDisqualified.com.
I have recently covered Eric Swalwell’s ineligibility to run for California governor in The Gateway Pundit, including Eric Swalwell is Constitutionally Disqualified from Running for Governor of California and in Disqualification Scandal Grows! – Eric Swalwell Caught Using Attorney’s Address on Personal Disclosure Form.
My Petition for Writ of Mandate contends that Swalwell is constitutionally ineligible for the office of governor based on California residency requirements and false representations in his candidate filings.
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The Constitutional Residency Requirement
Article V, section 2 of the California Constitution requires that a gubernatorial candidate be “a resident of this State for five years immediately preceding the Governor’s election.”
My petition argues that this constitutional requirement is mandatory and enforceable and that the Secretary of State has a ministerial duty, not a discretionary choice, to ensure candidates meet it before certification.
In my petition, I point to publicly recorded mortgage documents executed by Eric Swalwell in 2022, designating his Washington, D.C. home as his “principal residence.”
Swalwell’s sworn mortgage document to purchase 209 9th St SE in Washington, D.C. makes it clear.
On the opening pages of the Deed of Trust, Swalwell and his wife are listed as the borrowers. The document is a District of Columbia Deed of Trust, and it contains the standard federal Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac provisions for owner-occupant primary residence declarations.
In addition, Clause 8 of the Deed of Trust includes the line “Material representations include, but are not limited to, representations concerning Borrower’s occupancy of the Property as Borrower’s principal residence.”
Add to all this the fact that Swalwell has no California address and has never owned a home in California. Under California Elections Code section 349, domicile is determined by objective acts, not by later statements of intent.
Taken together, my petition asserts, these facts mean Swalwell must be barred from running for governor of California.
In my petition, I also challenge Swalwell’s Candidate Intention Statement (Form 501), which he signed under the penalty of perjury on November 11, 2025, and submitted to the California Secretary of State.
The very first section, “Candidate Information,” requires a real, verifiable home street address. This mandate exists to confirm identity, establish legal residency, and prevent fraud in the candidate qualification process.
Yet on his Form 501, Swalwell listed his home address as “400 Capitol Mall, Suite 2400, Sacramento, CA 95814.” This is not his home address.
It is the office of his attorneys at Greenberg Traurig, LLP, the same address (properly) used for his campaign committee on Form 410, but improperly used as a personal residential address on Form 501.
Why a Writ of Mandate?
Rather than seeking damages, I am invoking Code of Civil Procedure section 1085, which authorizes courts to issue Writs of Mandate to compel public officials to perform a clear, present, ministerial duty.
A Writ of Mandate is a common tool in election cases precisely because timing matters. Once ballots are printed and certification deadlines pass, courts are reluctant to upend an election after the fact.
As my petition puts it, post-hoc remedies cannot restore a lawful ballot once the machinery of an election is underway. I believe I will obtain the Writ because I have shown three things:
A clear legal duty on the part of the respondent, the California Secretary of State;
A beneficial interest in enforcement (my voter standing); and
No adequate remedy at law, particularly where delay would cause irreparable harm.
California Voters are Entitled to a Lawful Ballot
California Representative Eric Swalwell has faced a barrage of controversy in recent years, from his alleged ties to the Chinese spy “Fang Fang,” to his removal from the House Intelligence Committee over national security concerns, to his infamous on-air mishap during a 2019 interview on Hardball with Chris Matthews. He has sued Donald Trump over “January 6” and called him “America’s Hitler”.
But this case is not about politics, ideology, or party advantage. It is about whether the California Constitution means what it says, or whether it can be ignored when inconvenient. Constitutions are not suggestions.
They are binding law, and they apply equally to every candidate, regardless of name recognition or political connections.
If a candidate who has sworn, in recorded federal mortgage documents, that his principal residence is in Washington, D.C., and with no California home, can nonetheless appear on a California gubernatorial ballot, then the five-year residency requirement is meaningless, and so is the California constitution.
Allowing an ineligible candidate to remain on the ballot would inflict irreparable harm on California voters. Once ballots are printed and votes are cast, the damage cannot be undone.
Courts have long recognized that post-election challenges are no substitute for pre-election enforcement of eligibility rules. That is why Writs of Mandate exist.
For these reasons, Eric Swalwell must be removed from the governor’s race. Not as punishment, and not as a political statement, but as a matter of constitutional necessity.
The rule of law depends on consistent enforcement, especially when the stakes are highest.
California voters are entitled to a lawful ballot, and the courts exist to ensure that constitutional requirements are enforced. Check out the Petition and all related links at: SwalwellIsDisqualified.com.
Read my petition below:
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Joel Gilbert is a Los Angeles-based film producer and president of Highway 61 Entertainment. He is the producer of the new film Roseanne Barr Is America. He is also the producer of: Dreams from My Real Father, The Trayvon Hoax, Trump: The Art of the Insult, and many other films on American politics and music icons. Gilbert is on Twitter: @JoelSGilbert.
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