Congressman to seek nod for president as Democrat

Rep. Eric Swalwell, a fourth-term congressman from the East Bay region of California, is running for the Democratic nomination for president, he announced Monday on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.”

“I’m running for president of the United States,” Swalwell, 38, said. “It’s official. Boy, did it feel good to say that.”

Swalwell, a member of the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees, has gained some attention as an outspoken voice on President Donald Trump’s foreign and immigration policy. He is a frequent guest on cable news shows, often discussing the Intelligence Committee’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

But he has said the top focus of his campaign would be something else: gun control. His first major event as a candidate will be a town hall Tuesday near Parkland, Florida, which he planned with Cameron Kasky, one of the Parkland students who organized the March for Our Lives.

“I’ve talked to kids who sit in their classroom afraid that they’ll be the next victim of gun violence,” he told Colbert on Monday. “And they see Washington doing nothing about it after the moments of silence, and they see lawmakers who love their guns more than they love our kids.”

Swalwell is the second California officeholder to enter the 2020 Democratic primary, after Sen. Kamala Harris.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.