Former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s accusers speak out

WARNING: Some of the women describe graphic allegations. Viewer and reader discretion is advised.

WASHINGTON (CBS, KYMA) - CBS News sat down exclusively with the women who say former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) sexually harassed them.

Former Rep. Swalwell denies the allegations of sexual misconduct, but he suspended his campaign for governor Sunday, and then announced he resigned from Congress.

"I didn't tell anybody for years…out of fear," said Annika Albrecht, one of Swalwell's accusers.

When asked what she was afraid of, Albrecht said, "At first I thought I was all alone."

Albrecht was still in college when she says she got what she thought was a big break, Swalwell offering to stay in touch, after meeting with her student group in Washington D.C.

"He offered to mentor me...as someone who knew virtually nothing about politics at the time, or no one...that was just an incredibly generous offer that I felt very lucky to have," Albrecht shared.

She says Swalwell created a group chat with all the students, and then added her as a friend on the messaging app Snapchat.

"And so I asked the other people that were in the meeting, did he add them? And they said, 'No,'" Albrecht detailed.

When asked if they were all men, Albrecht says, "Yes. I was the only woman in the meeting."

She says Swalwell, who was then in his late 30s, started out talking politics, but his messages soon turned flirtatious.

"Ultimately it reached a point where he invited me to a hotel to meet him. It was very clear what the connotation was. At that point, I completely stopped responding. What I keep thinking back to is how lucky I am that I didn't go to that hotel," Albrecht remembered.

Ally Sammarco says she had a similar experience in 2021. She sent Swalwell a supportive message on Twitter, and to her surprise, he messaged right back.

"I was so excited. I was a low-level staffer who had no, like, no real political background, and he was this established figure in Democratic politics," Sammarco expressed.

They began to text, but she says he soon asked if she too was on Snapchat, where messages and photos automatically get deleted after they are viewed.

When asked how the tenor of his conversation change, Sammarco said, "It started out as professional and platonic. And then slowly they became more and more explicit, asking me what I was wearing, and then one night, he was on a trip and he was laying in his hotel room bed, and then, he sent me a photo of his penis."

Sammarco showed CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes the text messages she sent to friends at the time about Swalwell's alleged advances.

In one of the messages, she wrote: "He's snapping me right now asking when he can see me," but beyond that, both women said little for years as they built careers as Democratic campaign strategists.

"I was terrified that if I spoke out against him, then people would think that I was a loose cannon, that I couldn't be trusted, that maybe I'm making it up," Albrecht remarked.

That was until Swalwell decided to run for governor of California, and quickly moved to the top of the pack.

"The idea that this man who has already abused his power would be given even more power and could potentially harm even more women made my whole body sick," Albrecht said.

So two weeks ago, Albrecht reached out to her good friend Cheyenne Hunt, a Democratic content creator, and asked her to post a video about the rumors that have dogged Swalwell for years.

"The Democratic candidate currently leading in the California Governor's race has a known history of being predatory towards women…I could never have guessed where it would lead us," Hunt said.

When asked where did it lead, Hunt said, "I was immediately slammed with DMs from other women who said, 'I have a story to tell.' And that was when I realized that this was a lot bigger than I think any of us knew."

Swalwell has acknowledged what he called "mistakes of judgment," but denied all allegations of sexual misconduct saying, "They have never happened...and I will fight them with everything that I have."

However, on Sunday, he suspended his bid for governor, and on Monday, he announced his plan to resign from Congress, which took effect Tuesday at 11 a.m. Pacific.

When asked if that was justice in her view, Sammarco said, "I think we just prevented another 30 to 40 years potentially of him harming people if he were to stay in Congress. So in that sense, I think we have served justice for his future victims…that won't exist anymore."

During a press conference Tuesday, another accuser, Lonna Drewes said in 2018, then Congressman Swalwell drugged, raped and choked her in a California hotel room.

Drewes and her attorneys, Arick Fudali and Lisa Bloom, say they are bringing her allegations to local law enforcement.

CBS News reached out to Swalwell multiple times about these specific allegations, and they did not hear back.