'Was he ever in?' Twitter reacts to reports of Rep. Eric Swalwell dropping out of presidential race

Twitter reacts to news Rep. Eric Swalwell would be dropping out of the presidential race. Twitter reacts to news Rep. Eric Swalwell would be dropping out of the presidential race. Photo: Screenshot / Twitter Photo: Screenshot / Twitter Image 1 of / 19 Caption Close 'Was he ever in?' Twitter reacts to reports of Rep. Eric Swalwell dropping out of presidential race 1 / 19 Back to Gallery

Before he could be passed the torch, his flame fizzled out. Rep. Eric Swalwell, who represents parts of Alameda and Contra Costa counties in Congress, announced Monday that he would be dropping out of the presidential race.

Los Angeles Times reporter Mark Barabak first shared the news on Twitter, citing a "Capitol Hill source familiar with his intentions". Read more from The Chronicle.

Swalwell is the first major candidate to drop out of the race — "major" being subjective. While Swalwell did participate in the first round of debates, he was only polling at around 1 percent last week.

During the debate he participated in, Swalwell spoke for 4 minutes and 43 seconds, according to a count by the New York Times, much of which was used challenging Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders to "pass the torch" to a younger generation of Democrats. Twitter users made fun of him then for repeatedly using the refrain, and those jokes resurfaced as news of his campaign's end began to spread online.

See more reactions on the Swalwell news in the gallery above.

As for Swalwell's two Twitter accounts, they were silent on the matter early in the day. He held a press conference at 1 p.m. at the campaign's Dublin headquarters to formally announce the decision.

Alix Martichoux is an SFGate supervising producer. Read her latest stories and send her news tips at alix.martichoux@sfgate.com.