Overview
- Rep. Eric Swalwell’s college poem, “Hungover From Burgundy,” published in Campbell University’s literary magazine The Lyricist, was resurfaced by the Daily Mail during his gubernatorial bid.
- The poem includes graphic imagery, with lines such as “kissing till veins imploded and exploded, till blood rolled down our chins,” which outlets reproduced in full or in part.
- Mediaite reported that conservative filmmaker Joel Gilbert provided the poem to the Daily Mail and has said he is working against Swalwell’s campaign.
- Swalwell responded on X by downplaying the poem as juvenile, joking that critics should read his 12-year-old diary next.
- Coverage also revisits his college columns referencing Mumia Abu-Jamal and Leonard Peltier and notes his past contact with Christine Fang, which the House Ethics Committee closed in 2023 without action, with no new investigations reported.