Eric Swalwell appears ready to make gun violence a central issue as he prepares to run for president. And he has the support of some people who have become politically active because of the Parkland school massacre.
The first big rollout of the gun violence strategy is Tuesday night, when Swalwell holds a town hall meeting on gun violence at the BB&T Center. “I’m making sure gun violence is front and center in our national policy debate,” Swalwell said in a statement.
The town hall is the first big event of a candidacy that could be announced Monday night on the CBS program “The Late Show.”
“It makes sense if you’re a young candidate, as he is, and you want to position yourself as sort of like the future of the Democratic Party. Coming to a place like Broward County after what happened and embracing the issues that so many young people right now are so interested in, that makes perfect sense,” said Cynthia Busch, chairwoman of the Broward Democratic Party.
In a crowded field, becoming known as a champion of an issue that’s important to Democratic primary voters could help get the California congressman noticed. Another presidential candidate, Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington, is taking a similar approach, making climate change his major issue.
“Tactically, it’s a smart opening move,” said Mitch Ceasar, the longtime former chairman of the Broward Democratic Party. “South Florida is the perfect venue to discuss that, even before the Parkland tragedy … Sometimes it’s less about campaigning in a particular locale than it is at getting national press that will reach every locale.”
Craig T. Smith, who was a senior adviser to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and served as White House political director for President Bill Clinton, said the issue could give Swalwell a good base of support.
The only downside, Smith said, is becoming so identified with one subject that voters see the candidate as a single-issue candidate. There is little other risk Smith said, adding that anyone who is turned off by Swalwell’s making guns a major issue wouldn’t vote for him anyway.
U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, a Broward-Palm Beach county Democrat whose district includes Parkland, said gun violence is a much more important issue to many people than some of the discussions that have occupied some people in the political world, such as whether the Electoral College should be abolished.
“The whole time that we’re having those discussions, people are dying in our communities as a result of gun violence. It’s a life and death issue. It deserves immediate and regular and urgent attention,” he said. “I think every candidate should be emphasizing this in their campaigns.”
Outspoken on issue
Swalwell has been outspoken about gun violence, and he’s been keenly interested in the Feb. 14, 2018, massacre in which 17 people were killed and 17 injured at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Deutch said Swalwell has moved by the Stoneman Douglas tragedy, and the interest is genuine. “He’s been so inspired by the courage of the Parkland families and student survivors to really take action that he’s become a great ally of mine in the battle to reform our gun laws and keep people safe,” he said.
Cameron Kasky, a student co-founder of the March for Our Lives movement after the Parkland shooting was Swalwell’s guest in the U.S. House chamber in February for President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address.
Kasky has publicized the Tuesday night event to his 437,000 Twitter followers.
The venue for Swalwell’s event was the same place where Kasky captured national attention after the Feb. 14 massacre at his school in Parkland when he challenged U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., during a CNN town hall for accepting campaign money from the National Rifle Association.
Pros and cons
David Horvitz, a Fort Lauderdale philanthropist and Democratic donor who has met and contributed to Swalwell’s congressional campaign, said he thinks the public is ready for a candidate who embraces restrictions on firearms.
“Everybody else is sort of walking on eggshells because of the NRA. In order for any of these candidates to get ahead they’ve got to distinguish themselves somehow,” he said. Horvitz said he’s certain it’s a deeply held belief and not a political ploy. “I know he believes in it from the heart. It’s not just a political position. It’s something he really believes in.”
He said he expects he’ll attend the BB&T Center event.
Scott Newmark won’t. He’s the founder and president of the Broward-based Americans For Trump organization, which is holding its one-year anniversary meeting on Tuesday.
“Making [gun control] the central focus of his campaign is destined to fail as it does not connect to most other issues from economic growth to national security,” Newmark said by text message. “Bottom line it will really not differentiate him from the other candidates.”
Candidacy
For all practical purposes, Swalwell — who is a frequent anti-Trump presence on cable TV — has effectively been running for president for months.
He’s made repeated trips to Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two states in the presidential nominating process.
In March, he was the keynote speaker at the Broward Democratic Party’s annual fundraising dinner. “He sounded like a candidate in waiting, which at the time he was,” Ceasar said.
Swalwell has been courting leading Democrats.