Bay Area congressman Eric Swalwell spent two days last week in a Winnebago nicknamed “Sioux City Sue,” road-tripping across rural Iowa to campaign for a fellow Democrat. He’ll be back again this weekend, speaking on the soapbox at the State Fair and stopping by a corn boil in Baldwin, population 109.

That latest foray will mark Swalwell’s 10th trip to Iowa since President Trump took office — a travel schedule that’s raising eyebrows about the 37-year-old East Bay representative’s presidential ambitions.

Politicos in the Hawkeye State, which holds the first presidential nominating caucuses in the nation, say Swalwell has spent more time there over the last year and a half than nearly any other potential Democratic presidential candidate.

His frequent trips come as he’s skyrocketed from obscurity to a measure of political fame over the last two years, thanks to his role on the House Intelligence Committee during its investigation into Russian election interference. Swalwell has become a fixture on cable news, denouncing the president night after night both in friendly interviews on MSNBC and more combative back-and-forths on Fox News.

The third-term congressman made 282 national TV appearances in 2017 and 233 so far in 2018, his staff said — more than one per day this year. That’s compared to just 28 in all of 2016.

That prominence has won him a raft of invitations from Iowa. He’s spoken at fundraising dinners, picnics, and on college campuses around the state. He has or is scheduled to campaign with three Iowa Democrats running for congress, as well as a handful of state legislative candidates.

In an interview, Swalwell — who was born in Iowa — said he was focused on helping Democrats retake the House in 2018, including by winning competitive races there. “If people are interested in changing the direction of the country, Iowa is the battleground,” he said.

But he also said he isn’t ruling out a presidential run in 2020.

“Right now my focus is to win at home, earn my way back to Washington to represent my constituents, help other candidates win so we can change the country, and then I’ll make decisions after November about my future,” Swalwell said.

Only one president, James Garfield, has ever leapt directly from the House of Representatives to the White House. The fact that a Swalwell campaign is even a possibility shows how Trump’s victory has broadened the field of potential Democratic candidates, and perhaps more importantly, expanded the definition of who is qualified to lead the country.

California’s other potential White House contenders have been more circumspect since the beginning of 2017: Sen. Kamala Harris hasn’t set foot in Iowa, while Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has visited just once, when he spoke at a Democratic gala in Davenport in April — an event that also featured Swalwell. Billionaire donor Tom Steyer has been there twice, and is returning a third time this weekend.

Rep. John Delaney, a little-known Maryland congressman who has already declared his 2020 candidacy, is the only potential presidential candidate who’s made more trips there than Swalwell, according to a tally compiled by Iowa Democratic strategist and political blogger Pat Rynard.

J.D. Scholten, the Democratic congressional candidate Swalwell joined on his recent road trip, said he was thankful for the support.

In his rural district, “we kind of get abandoned by most national folks who come to Iowa — they like to go to Des Moines because it’s convenient and easier,” said Scholten, who’s running an uphill race against conservative firebrand Rep. Steve King. “For him to make an effort to come out here is a big deal.”

Stop #2 on the #ScholtenSwalwell tour: A packed house for lunch in Storm Lake, and then a quick break for some catch between a current and future member of the Dems Congressional baseball team! (w/ @EricSwalwell) pic.twitter.com/g3rFXcNmkJ — J.D. Scholten (@Scholten4Iowa) July 31, 2018

At several of the duo’s campaign stops, people told Swalwell they knew his family, and one woman even pulled out an old photo she had of him as a kid. His dad, Eric Swalwell, Sr., once served as police chief in small-town Algona, and the family moved to California when Swalwell was 5. Most of his family and in-laws are Republicans, and his parents have a Trump-Pence magnet on their refrigerator, he says.

“This is a state where you need to build relationships over time,” said Matt Paul, an Iowa Democratic strategist who was state director for Hillary Clinton’s presidential primary campaign. Swalwell, he added, “has been smart and strategic in how he’s built his schedule thus far — I think he’s taking it very seriously.”

Since the beginning of 2017, Swalwell has also donated $21,700 from his campaign and leadership PAC to Iowa candidates and Democratic groups — far more than he’s given to political causes in any other state, including California, according to Federal Election Commission records. His finance director, Aaron Fielding, has ties to Iowa politics, previously working for the state Democratic Party and managing a congressional campaign there.

Swalwell has tried to position himself as both progressive and pragmatic, endorsing Medicare for All while opposing calls to abolish the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. He’s also shown some political caution: he received a $2,500 donation from Exxon Mobil’s corporate political action committee in May, but returned it the following month. His campaign says he accepts corporate PAC money, but not from oil, gas or tobacco companies.

And he’s zeroed in on younger voters, calling for student loan reforms and a federal buyback of assault weapons — while building a following on Snapchat. His relative youth would set him apart in a potential presidential run: Many of the top Democratic contenders are in their late 60’s and 70’s.

Not everyone in the East Bay is happy with Swalwell spending so much time in Iowa. Rudy Peters, a Republican Navy veteran in Livermore challenging him for congress this year, said Swalwell was more focused on national politics than down-to-earth issues like traffic congestion or housing affordability.

“People tell me they’re sick and tired of seeing that guy on TV,” Peters said. “There’s really no representation in our district whatsoever.”

But Swalwell is heavily favored for re-election, and he’s still maintained a brisk lineup of events at home, including several weekend “hike with your congressman” meet-ups in local parks.

On Saturday, when more than 400 people crammed into the standing-room-only Hayward High School gymnasium for a Swalwell town hall meeting, his constituents were divided on whether he should take a swing for the White House.

The first questioner of the day, Hayward trucker Alex Aguilar, asked Swalwell to run for president in 2020, saying that the Democratic Party needed a “fresh face” like him. In response, the congressman said he loved his current job and joked that Aguilar should “talk to my wife.” (The couple are expecting their second child this November, the same week as election day.)

Others like Sharon Travers, who also lives in Hayward, said they like Swalwell but think he needs more experience.

“He’s part of the cream that will rise to the top,” she predicted after the meeting, but “2020 is too soon.”