Rep. Eric Swalwell, the California Democratic gubernatorial candidate, reportedly rents a single room in a 1,350-square-foot Livermore home occupied by a family of three. The arrangement, which traces back to a lease signed in June 2017, has become the centerpiece of a residency challenge from his top Democratic rival, billionaire Tom Steyer.
The home belongs to Nicolas and Kristina Mrzywka. And the connection between the Mrzywkas and Swalwell is not exactly arm's length.
According to a letter sent by Steyer's attorney Ryan Hughes to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, Kristina Mrzywka is the sister of Stephanie Sbranti, who is married to Tim Sbranti. Sbranti served as Swalwell's deputy chief of staff and district director from 2015 to 2018 and has been described as a longtime mentor who helped introduce Swalwell to politics. Tim Sbranti himself reportedly said he suggested Swalwell rent a room in the home "as a way to maintain an affordable base in an expensive district."
So the congressman's former political mentor arranged for him to rent a room from his sister-in-law's family. That's quite an affordable housing program.
Hughes's letter to Weber urged the Secretary of State to "enforce a dormant residency requirement in the governor's race" and to "allow for robust legal proceedings as to whether Swalwell is eligible to serve as Governor." The letter argues that Swalwell appears to "live in California on paper only," making him "unlikely to meet the basic residency requirements to run for Governor," according to the New York Post.
The attorney pointed to a 2022 deed of trust showing Swalwell purchased a home in Washington, D.C. Deed records, according to the letter, did not indicate Swalwell ownership of the Livermore property. Meanwhile, the Zillow listing describes the address as a three-bedroom, 1,350-square-foot house already home to a family of three.
Swalwell fired back with declarations. His landlord, Kristina Mrzywka, filed one on March 6, stating under penalty of perjury:
"I entered a lease agreement with Eric and Brittany Swalwell in June 2017 for a property that I own in Livermore, California. Mr. and Mrs. Swalwell has leased the property from me since June 2017."
Mrzywka added that Swalwell pays rent every month, lives at the property when he is in the East Bay, keeps significant belongings there, receives mail at the address, and is registered to vote there.
Swalwell himself submitted a declaration claiming continuous California residency:
"From June 2017 to present, I have lived in Livermore, California. I am registered to vote in California. I have a California Driver's License. I am a licensed attorney with the California State Bar, and my license has remained active since I was admitted to the Bar in 2006."
He also stated he owns a business in California and has filed income tax returns in the state since 2006.
Here's where it gets interesting. Hughes's letter claims that since at least 2018, the Secretary of State's office "has taken the legal position that the five-year residency requirement is unconstitutional under the U.S. Constitution." In other words, the very office tasked with enforcing candidate eligibility has spent years declining to enforce the residency standard on constitutional grounds.
This is the kind of quiet institutional surrender that lets politicians build entire careers on technicalities. California has a residency requirement on the books. The Secretary of State's office apparently decided it doesn't count. And a congressman who bought a house in D.C. in 2022 gets to claim he lives in a rented room in Livermore because he gets his mail there and keeps some belongings around.
By that standard, anyone with a P.O. Box and a storage unit qualifies as a resident.
The most entertaining dimension of this story is that it's entirely a Democratic Party affair. Steyer, the billionaire climate activist, isn't mounting this challenge out of civic principle. He's running against Swalwell and wants him off the ballot or, at a minimum, damaged. Hughes's letter even frames the residency question as a national security risk, warning that if Swalwell were elected:
"The Trump Administration could question Swalwell's legitimacy as Governor and, therefore, imperil California's receipt of federal funds, the state's ability to deploy the California National Guard, and act in emergencies."
Note the framing. The argument isn't simply that Swalwell doesn't meet the legal threshold. It's that his dubious residency could give the Trump administration leverage. Steyer's camp is essentially telling California Democrats: elect this guy and you hand your enemies ammunition. Even the rebuttal from California members of Congress dismissed the challenge as "baseless residency attacks," the kind of reflexive circling of wagons that tells you the hit landed.
Eric Swalwell has spent years in Washington building a media profile as one of Congress's most aggressive partisans. He's a cable news regular. He ran for president in 2019. He owns a home in D.C., and now he wants to govern a state where his connection to actual soil rests on a room rented from a political ally's relative.
This is the kind of arrangement that would generate weeks of investigative coverage if a Republican tried it. Imagine a GOP congressman who lived in Washington, bought a house there, and then pointed to a rental agreement with a former staffer's family member as proof of residency in the state he wanted to govern. The editorial boards would combust.
But the deeper issue isn't Swalwell's lease. It's the casual assumption, shared by too many politicians in both parties but perfected by the Democratic establishment, that residency is a formality. That governing a state doesn't require actually living among the people you govern. That a driver's license, a bar membership, and a tax return constitute roots.
California voters will have to decide whether a rented room in a family's house qualifies a man to lead the largest state in the union. The facts are on the table. A D.C. homeowner. A Livermore room. A political mentor who brokered the arrangement. And a Secretary of State's office that has spent years looking the other way on the very requirement designed to prevent exactly this.
The room may be rented. The residency is borrowed.
