Congressman Eric Swalwell, a leading candidate to be California’s next governor, forcefully denied allegations of sexual assault on Friday night, as he faced escalating calls to withdraw from the race from prominent supporters, rivals and his won colleagues in Congress.

In a video statement shared on his Instagram and posted by his official congressional account on X, the California Democrat vowed to fight the allegations with “everything I have”.

“These allegations of sexual assault are flat false. They are absolutely false, they did not happen. They have never happened. And I will fight them with everything I have,” he said, later adding: “I do not suggest to you in any way that I am perfect or that I’m a saint. I have certainly made mistakes in judgement in my past. But those mistakes are between me and my wife and to her, I apologize deeply for putting her in this position. I also apologize to you if in any way, you have doubted your support for me. But I think you know who I am.”

He also appeared to confirm his plans to remain in the race: “This weekend, I’m going to spend time with my family and friends, and I appreciate those who have reached out to me to show support, and I look forward to updating you very soon.”

Earlier on Friday, the San Francisco Chronicle published an account of a woman who said she was sexually assaulted by Swalwell on two separate occasions.

The woman said she was a former employee for Swalwell, a sitting congressman who has represented the East Bay area since 2013. The woman, whom the newspaper did not name, said she had sexual encounters with Swalwell while he was her boss, and alleged he sexually assaulted her when she was too intoxicated to consent. The Guardian has not independently confirmed the allegations. The Chronicle said it reviewed text messages related to the alleged 2024 assault and spoke to friends whom she had told about it.

The woman also spoke with CNN, and three other women alleged sexual misconduct by the Democratic congressman in interviews with the news network.

Lawyers for Swalwell’s campaign sent two of the women cease-and-desist letters, which called the women’s accounts “false” and ordered them to retract their statements, CNN reported.

Swalwell’s campaign did not respond to questions from the Guardian.

The reports came days after posts had circulated social media, claiming that a groundswell of women would go public with accounts of inappropriate behavior they had experienced from Swalwell.

At a town hall in Sacramento earlier this week, Swalwell disavowed the online discourse as “false” and suggested the posts were timed intentionally to derail his campaign.

Swalwell, whose platform emphasized affordability and the working class, in recent weeks had emerged as a frontrunner in a crowded Democratic race to succeed Gavin Newsom.

On the cable news circuit, he has often been a fierce opponent of Donald Trump. He positioned himself as fighter who could take Trump on if he were governor.

News of the allegations reverberated through the campaign on Friday, and several prominent Democrats, including House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, called on him to leave the race.

Three campaign employees, including former adviser Courtni Pugh, confirmed to Politico that they had exited Swalwell’s campaign.

“As we continue to learn more, these allegations from multiple sources are deeply troubling and must be taken seriously,” Newsom said on Friday.

California senator Adam Schiff, one of the most prominent members of Congress to back Swalwell, said he was rescinding his endorsement immediately, and called on him to withdraw from the race.

Arizona senator Ruben Gallego, a personal friend of Swalwell, who had days ago defended the congressman against the allegations swirling online, also pulled his endorsement.

“What is described is indefensible. Women who come forward with accounts like this deserve to be heard with respect, not questioned or dismissed,” Gallego said in a statement. Gallego added that he regretted having come to Swalwell’s defense “prior to knowing all the information”.

In a statement, former speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said “this extremely sensitive matter must be appropriately investigated with full transparency and accountability”. She continued, “as I discussed with Congressman Swalwell, it is clear that is best done outside of a gubernatorial campaign”.

Swalwell’s Democratic rivals in the race called on him to halt his campaign.

“Eric Swalwell’s attempt to silence victims to save his campaign for governor – a campaign he was unfit to enter given these allegations – is a shameful disgrace to our democracy,” Antonio Villaraigosa, former speaker of the California state assembly, said in a statement.

Former congresswoman Katie Porter expressed solidarity with the women who came forward. “We believe you and we stand with you,” she wrote on X.

Steve Hilton, a Republican in the gubernatorial race, suggested on X that Swalwell’s alleged misconduct was an indictment of the state’s Democratic party.

“For all their endless lectures about gender equality and their ‘values’ it’s obvious that today’s California Democratic Party doesn’t care about anything except its own power,” wrote Hilton, who was endorsed recently by Trump.