Photo: Rich Pedroncelli/AP
Photo: Rich Pedroncelli/AP

Politics

California’s Blue Armageddon

One of the most liberal states in the country can’t find a Democrat to lead it.

First published in The Atlantic on April 19, 2026.

by Mark Leibovich, The Atlantic
April 23, 2026 | reading time: 17 Min.

On a chilly Saturday late last month, I met Eric Swalwell at a Little League diamond near Capitol Hill, where the Bay Area congressman and his wife, Brittany, would be watching their 8-year-old son. Swalwell, who was running to succeed Gavin Newsom as the next governor of California, had been gradually rising above a Lilliputian cast of candidates and had acquired a strong scent of momentum in the race.

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