Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., is facing criticism from campaign finance experts for spending more than $200,000 of his congressional campaign funds on childcare-related expenses, a Fox News Digital review of Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings found. Swalwell, who has represented California since 2013 and ran a brief presidential bid in 2019, is currently running for governor of California.
The FEC filings from 2019 through 2025 show that Swalwell’s campaigns reimbursed him for childcare costs totaling over $200,000. A substantial portion of these payments—over $22,000—covered just three months of childcare from October to December 2025. Some of these payments, totaling over $6,000, were made directly to Swalwell’s wife, Brittany Swalwell, for services listed as “childcare.”
Other major recipients include Amanda Barbosa, a childcare provider from Dublin, California, who received over $102,000 between 2021 and 2025. Her professional profiles indicate she began working as a childcare provider in September 2021 and is pictured with the Swalwell family on social media. Bambini Play & Learn Child Development Center in Washington, D.C., received more than $57,000 from 2023 to 2025, according to filings. The center charges monthly tuition between $2,520 and $3,280.
Additional reimbursed expenses listed in campaign filings included payroll taxes for childcare, childcare for campaign events, travel-related childcare, and food and beverage costs associated with childcare.
Federal law prohibits campaign funds from being used for personal expenses. However, in 2018, the FEC issued an opinion allowing campaigns to pay for childcare expenses “caused by campaign activity.” Swalwell also received FEC approval in 2022 to use campaign funds for overnight childcare related to campaign travel.
Allen Mendenhall, a campaign finance expert and research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital that the FEC’s rulings are problematic. He described childcare as an “inherently personal” expense that candidates would incur regardless of whether they are campaigning.
“It opens a slippery slope for a whole set of costs that could be conceivably justified as campaign expenses, such as clothing, grooming, and beyond,” Mendenhall said. He argued that allowing such reimbursements risks creating a special class of politicians insulated from ordinary financial constraints.
“Campaign law exists not to underwrite the private lives of politicians, but to ensure that political speech is protected and that public advocacy occurs,” Mendenhall added. “Election laws are in place to maintain the integrity of our electoral system, and that decision, I think, undermines the integrity of the system.”
Swalwell, who has three children ages 8, 7, and 4, has not publicly responded to the criticism. His gubernatorial campaign continues while the issue draws attention to the broader debate over the limits of campaign spending for personal costs.
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Hmmmm! Were there any Feng Feng payments in there?
Voters get exactly what they voted for in Swalwell, Newsom, and Bass, as well as other pols who have made residents’ lives miserable. Look no further than the response to the Pacific Palisades fire.
What a surprise… The question is when oh when are these sleaze bags ever going to be held accountable. The real funny thing is you people keep wanting us stupid folks to keep sending you our money. Something is really f–ked up here
California gets what it votes into office. Maybe they will eventually get it.
Republicans need to play the democrats game and investigate the person to find a crime rather than investigate a crime to find out who committed it. Democrats are criminal vermin and any real look into them will reveal multiple crimes.
Lie-beral Demonocrats ‘don’t do’ honesty….they’re not wired that way ! (write it down, so you won’t forget it)