Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), who unseated 20-term Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) in California's 15th District in November, is taking on another daunting challenge.

As the congressman in a district with two national laboratories located in the San Francisco Bay Area, Lawrence Livermore and Sandia, Swalwell, 32, has been assigned to the Committee on Science, Space and Technology, where he plans to advocate for acknowledgment of human-caused climate change.

"What I've seen on that committee is attempts to roll back some of the progress we've made on fighting global warming, attempts there to deny that humans are causing global warming, and so that's where I really will be pushing back," Swalwell said. "Getting us to just agree on the same set of facts, to sing from the same sheet of music, so to speak. That's where I'd like to get us."

SPECIAL SERIES

E&E Daily profiles new members of Congress who will quickly become players on energy and environmental issues.

He has his work cut out for him. While the committee is undergoing significant turnover following the elections, losing Reps. Chip Cravaack (R-Minn.) and Todd Akin (R-Mo.), who were climate skeptics, there are still several prominent opponents of climate action, including Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) and Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) (E&E Daily, Nov. 8, 2012).

Incoming Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) has criticized U.S. EPA's finding that carbon dioxide endangers human health and welfare by contributing to climate change. He said last week that he thinks the science is still out on how much humans are affecting the climate.

"I believe climate change is due to a combination of factors, including natural cycles, sun spots, and human activity," Smith said in a statement. "But scientists still don't know for certain how much each of these factors contributes to the overall climate change that the Earth is experiencing. It is the role of the Science Committee to create a forum for discussion so Congress and the American people can hear from experts and draw reasoned conclusions. During this process, we should focus on the facts rather than on a partisan agenda."

Observers said they didn't expect the committee to be particularly active on the issue. "I am not optimistic of any meaningful constructive action coming out of the Science Committee's deliberations in the next Congress on this very important subject," said former Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.), who chaired the committee from 2001 to 2006 and now serves on the boards of the Natural Resources Defense Council's Action Fund and former Vice President Al Gore's Climate Reality Project.

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.). Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

The committee could be a venue for debate under Smith, however, Boehlert said. "Lamar Smith is not some nut," he said. "He's a thoughtful, decent guy, and a fair guy. I don't think he's convinced of the reality of climate change, but he's a thoughtful, fair guy."

As a result, "I'm going in there optimistic that there will be Republicans who see what global warming is doing to our Earth," Swalwell said.

"What I will be on that committee is a vehement defender of science," he said. "If they don't want to have a science committee, they shouldn't have a science committee, but if we all agree that it's important to us, then I want to be there to defend science."

Swalwell said he supports cap and trade and possibly a carbon tax. "I'm open to it; I'm not closing the door on it," he said. "I want to look at those options."

"We can agree or disagree on what the methods are that we should take to cool the Earth and slow global warming," he said. "You can overregulate to the degree that you're hurting jobs in the short term, so you need to make sure you have a balance of protecting economic growth but also protecting the environment, but if we don't agree on the same set of facts that's happening, then that's where I think we're at right now."

Climate change aside, Swalwell also plans to strive for bipartisan cooperation. He has affiliated himself with a group called No Labels, which is chaired by former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman (R) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and whose agenda includes limiting filibusters, requiring up-or-down votes on presidential nominations within 90 days and tying legislators' pay to their ability to pass a budget on time.

Dublin, Calif., Mayor Tim Sbranti, whom Swalwell worked with as a city councilman, said his bipartisan bent would be welcome in Congress. "One of the things he did that will serve him well in D.C. is he did a good job of working on all sides," he said. "The art of compromise seems sometimes sadly to be a dirty word."

Former Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.), for whom Swalwell interned in 2001, said the new congressman will strive to bring people together.

"Eric is an attorney and is someone who believes in science and facts and is a pragmatist, but he's also somebody who wants to reach and get bipartisan consensus," she said. "That's frankly the only way you can achieve the kind of consensus we need to get things done."

The Science and Technology Committee could also be a good pulpit for Swalwell's "mobile Congress" idea, aimed at getting lawmakers back to their districts more often. Votes and hearings could happen remotely, he said.

"I think there's just too much Beltway bubble that needs to be popped," Swalwell said. "I think you can pop that bubble with technology."

"We don't always have to be in the same room at the same time to talk about the same issue," he said. "You could do a committee hearing at the lab and have lab employees there, and then via satellite you have other committee members."

"Cisco, Oracle, big employers in our district, they use this technology all the time to communicate with Asia, Brazil, India, so it's changing the way we communicate and I think it's time for Congress to step up."

Other issues that interest him: defending businesses, government and infrastructure against cyberattacks and figuring out how to share data between the private sector and government to prepare for such attacks without raising businesses' hackles. "The next terrorist attack ... it's not going to be at a building," he said. "I think that we know our biggest threat right now is our cyber networks, and that can affect all of us."

In the long term, he said, he hopes to be on the Ways and Means Committee, as Stark was, and "probably something that's global, whether it's Foreign Affairs or Armed Services."

'Right guy at the right time'

A lot of people had their eye on Stark's seat. But only Swalwell, who was born eight years after Stark entered Congress, took the plunge.

Swalwell was making the rounds on Capitol Hill in July 2011 as a councilman for the city of Dublin when he heard from Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.) that Stark would be moving into the district, thanks to the new state redistricting process. McNerney would be moved out of the district at the same time.

"For me, it was like a punch to the gut, because Jerry was someone that I've known for a long time, had worked to get elected, and it was just sad to see that he was going to be leaving," Swalwell said. "And then, on the other hand, to see that Pete Stark, someone I had always thought was kind of checked out, was going to be now coming into this area, which is a very innovative area -- people have high expectations for their member of Congress."

The following weekend, Swalwell went to Ocean City, Md., for an annual trip with high school friends. His inclination to run crystallized there, he said.

"We spent the whole weekend plotting out a congressional race," he said. "We were at this little beach-side motel in Ocean City on laptops poring through Pete Stark's voting history and record, and we left the weekend more sure than when we started that it would be a good move."

Another potential challenger, former Commerce Department Deputy Assistant Secretary Ro Khanna, had stated publicly that he would not challenge Stark in 2012. That didn't stop a slew of high-profile names, including venture capitalists John Doerr and Vinod Khosla and Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, from pouring $1.2 million into Khanna's coffers for a possible run in 2014, when he presumed that Stark wouldn't be running again -- more than either Stark or Swalwell wound up raising for 2012.

These days, Khanna says he hasn't decided on his political plans yet.

"At some point in the future, I'll make a decision about the next step in my public service career," he said. "I congratulate [Swalwell] on the race, and I wish every member of Congress well. Our country needs to come together, and I wish everyone in public service who's representing our country and our area well."

In addition to California's new open primary system, which allows the top two primary finishers to advance to the general election regardless of affiliation, Swalwell benefited from the redistricting process, which made the region more moderate. Stark also committed a series of public gaffes, including falsely accusing Swalwell of taking bribes from developers and confusing bankrupt solar company Solyndra -- in his hometown of Fremont -- with Tesla Motors (E&E Daily, June 4, 2012).

"Swalwell in some respects was the right guy at the right time, but Stark made it pretty easy," said Larry Gerston, a political science professor at San Jose State University.

In the June primary, Stark took 42 percent of the vote to Swalwell's 36 percent, with Christopher Pareja, a businessman running as an independent, finishing with 22 percent. The result set up a rare Democrat-versus-Democrat general election.

Although Stark had the backing of most of the Democratic establishment, including President Obama, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the entire Bay Area House delegation, Stalwell wound up defeating the incumbent by 6 points. House leadership has supported Swalwell since his election. Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland -- a fellow University of Maryland graduate -- last week named Swalwell an assistant whip, saying he would bring "a fresh perspective to the whip team."

Swalwell said that despite the upset, the Bay Area delegation has been welcoming, as well. He hired Rep. Zoe Lofgren's (D) deputy chief of staff, Ricky Le, as his own chief of staff.

"I think that hire assures the Bay Area members that I want to be a team player," he said. "I think that was an important signal to them that I'm here to do big things and work with them as a team."