Former Rep. Eric Swalwell is facing scrutiny over a pattern of alcohol-related campaign spending, with Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings showing repeated charges at liquor stores, delivery services, and wineries spanning multiple years and continuing even after he resigned from Congress earlier this week after accusations of sexual assault.
Public records show that Swalwell’s campaign placed nine separate orders through the alcohol delivery service Drizly, totaling $566, with charges ranging from $5.79 to $124.86. The campaign also made seven trips to Capitol Hill Wine and Spirits, a liquor store on the House side of the U.S. Capitol, spending $1,151 on “refreshments,” and spent nearly $4,400 at two California wineries on a single day.
While the winery charges could have been tied to a campaign event, the liquor store purchases and Drizly orders were less clearly connected to campaign activity.
A review of federal campaign disclosures found that the alcohol spending ran much deeper. Over a four-year period starting in 2020, Swalwell’s campaigns recorded more than 100 separate Drizly charges totaling roughly $6,100. His Drizly spending alone accounted for roughly a quarter of all payments to the service from candidates’ campaigns, political committees, and PACs since 2019. The charges overlapped with multiple trips to Las Vegas in the summer of 2021, during which he billed his campaign for alcohol deliveries alongside hotel and restaurant tabs.
“In this case, the sheer number of alcohol purchases can raise some questions about whether the campaign funds were being used for a proper purpose,” Loyola Law School Professor Jessica Levinson told The Post. “Somebody should sort out whether these purchases fall within election laws,” she added.
That pattern continued even after Drizly shut down and was folded into Uber Eats in early 2024. Records show Swalwell’s campaigns used the app more than 220 times, totaling more than $19,000.
More recent Q1 2026 FEC filings show the spending continued well after Swalwell bowed out of the race and resigned his seat. In January 2026, the campaign logged a $44 charge at Harry’s Reserve, a Washington, D.C. liquor store, along with $664 and $520 tabs at The Battery, a private San Francisco members’ club with a well-stocked bar. The same filing shows six separate $1,598 payments to Stanford Hotels Corporation and nearly $500 in combined charges at Talay Thai, an upscale Thai restaurant, across two visits. The Uber Eats app, which absorbed Drizly’s alcohol delivery functions, also continued to appear throughout the quarter.
“We’re not talking about somebody spending their own money,” Levinson said, adding that it’s “absolutely fair” to be scrutinizing Swalwell’s use of campaign funds after his resignation from Congress on Tuesday. “We’re talking about somebody spending donors’ money.”
While Swalwell has denied the sexual misconduct allegations against him, he has not directly addressed the campaign expenditures, and his campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY