Biden Picks LA Mayor Eric Garcetti For U.S. Ambassador To India

LOS ANGELES, CA — President Joe Biden nominated Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Friday to become U.S. ambassador to India.

Garcetti's second term as mayor is set to expire late next year. An early ally of Biden's in the 2020 presidential race, Garcetti has long been rumored to be on the shortlist for ambassadorships or even a Cabinet position in the Biden administration.

As mayor, Garcetti presided over a booming economic period, a summer of racial justice protests, the devastation of the coronavirus pandemic, and a homelessness crisis that became a national embarrassment. If confirmed, Garcetti would be dispatched to India as it has been overwhelmed by a surge in coronavirus infections and deaths.

Garcetti, who considered a 2020 White House bid and later became part of Biden’s inner circle, emerged as a widely discussed possibility to join Biden’s Cabinet last year. But he took himself out of the running, saying the raging coronavirus crisis made it impossible for him to step away. In picking Garcetti, Biden is rewarding a loyalist.

The two-term mayor would leave LA with an uneven record. He has been credited with continuing a transit buildup in a city choked with traffic, establishing tougher earthquake safety standards for thousands of buildings and steering the city through the deadly pandemic as it became a hot spot for infections. But Garcetti was overmatched by a crisis of homelessness that became grew despite the massive jump in government spending to fight it. Also, many streets and sidewalks remain cratered and crumbling, despite his early pledge to make fixing them a cornerstone of his administration.

More recently, a lawsuit alleges that a former top staffer sexually harassed one of the mayor’s police bodyguards while Garcetti ignored it or laughed it off. The mayor denies the claims. One of his former deputy mayors was also indicted on corruption charges in an ongoing federal investigation at City Hall. And, as is the case in many large cities, the crime rate in LA is spiking.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.