For Garcetti, there is no escape from LA

For a Democrat who entered the presidential election cycle with high prospects, this marked the end of a difficult fall.

“For a long time, there is an aura around Eric Garcetti that he has someone with a great future, that he will climb to great heights of power,” said longtime Democratic strategist Darry Srigov in Los Angeles. “And in the world of politics, it means that everyone likes him and a lot of people like to be around him. And then it makes sense that it is of some consequence. “

“Sometimes it comes true, and sometimes things don’t work that way, at least for the time being,” said Srigao.

Two years ago, Garcetti was preparing for a widely expected run for president, raising money for Democrats across the country and positioning himself – and mayors like him – as a laggard in Washington, DC.

Today, he presides over a city that has been overwhelmed by coronoviruses and an epidemic-induced budget crisis, homeless and besieged by one man Increase in violent crime. a Public corruption investigation Has entered city hall. And until next month, Garcetti will be removed In a lawsuit accusing a former top aide of sexual harassment. Her 9-year-old daughter Maya has tested positive for coronovirus, and Garcetti and his wife are in quarantine.

If there was any good news for Garcetti, it was likely that he might get a break from Black Lives Matter-aligning activists, who had been beating drums every day for weeks outside his residence to protest a possible appointment.

“, He is not going to be the secretary —“, Melina Abdullah, a Black Lives Matter organizer, Said before Garcetti’s announcement. Once she came, she said, “We’re glad she didn’t see him fail.”

Garcetti held his decision as an option. “As the administration told me about serving,” he said, “I told them earlier this week that my city needs me now, and I want to be here and I need to be here.”

But many Democrats close to Garcetti said he would have left for the administration if the proposal had been good enough. Instead, Biden chose Gina McCarthy, the former Environmental Protection Agency chief, as her domestic climate policy chief and batting for transportation.

Garcetti, a friend of Buttigg, once jokingly said that he “Older, Strater Pete Batigiag. “But Batigiag is joining the cabinet. And like former Chicago Mayor Rahman Emanuel Campaigning for Transport Secretary, Is the edge of Garcetti.

Doug Herman, who was chief mail strategist for Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns and a senior adviser to Garcetti in his first mayoral run in 2013, said, “Pete has Eric’s air all over the way through this thing Got it.” The terms of running, in terms of being the voice of the cities, “and now” were mentioned for Eric in terms of achieving cabinet status.

It is difficult to see Garcetti’s arch of the last two years through any lens other than Miss Chance. In the term leading up to the presidential primary, Garcetti was sometimes considered a more reliable contender than Batagiag or many other mayors and former mayors considering campaigns. The mayor of the country’s second largest city, the 49-year-old of Mexican-Italian-Jewish descent, now represents a new generation of Democratic leadership from outside the beltway.

And Garcetti lacked ambition. He traveled extensively, launching a non-profit group of mayors, labor and business leaders to invest in cities across the country. And he generated goodwill by using his connections to Hollywood to help raise money for the state’s Democratic parties at a time when party operations in many states were thin.

In the end, Garcetti bald In the presidential campaign, being mayor was “what I was about to do.” But even in his demarche – and with his problems in Los Angeles – Garcetti had his ticket for the campaign of Garcetti, an early support for former vice president, Garcetti, and helped support candidates for vice president.

“Look, he did everything he was going to do,” Harman said. “He made public support … He glued his neck on the line with the fundraising. He was, in a real way, and quick. When this team wasn’t cool on Biden, Eric was there.”

Had Biden been re-nominated, a special election to replace Garcetti would have increased politics in Southern California, drawing a wide field of contenders for mayor. Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer, a former state legislator, is Already announced that he is running Will run for mayor in 2022 and almost certainly in a special election. City Council President Nuri Martinez and counselors Joe Bushcanio and Mark Ridley-Thomas, a former state legislator and county supervisor, were among the likely candidates, as was Councilman Kevin De Leon, a former Democratic state senator leader who unsuccessfully ran against Sen. Participated from. In 2018.

Now all these will be awaited. And so, too, Garcetti, whose front-end route would be as a mid-term appointment by Biden.

As the Biden administration develops, Harmon said, Garcetti will likely be “the first person off the bench … I certainly don’t think this is the end of the road for him.” And former Los Angeles County supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said Garcetti’s prospects are slim.

“This is not the time to write about Eric Garcetti’s obesity”, said Yaroslavsky, who now directs the Los Angeles initiative at UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. “Biden misses his friends, and Garcetti is his friend.”

Garcetti would need to be kept that way. Through a spokesperson, Garcetti declined to comment. but If not for a later appointment, it is unclear where Garcetti could go. He is not in the field of Democrats who are considered likely to be appointed for Sen. Kamala Harris, vice-presidential election, and the mayors of Los Angeles do not have a rich record of success in statewide campaigns. No Los Angeles mayor has entered the governor’s office.

The complicating problem for Garcetti is that it is also difficult for Angelinos – apart from the election season, when California owes money – to keep DC’s attention away from the nation’s political and media centers, with Los Angeles off the east coast. “JV Squad,” said Antonio Villaraigosa, the former mayor of Los Angeles as residents here.

“They think the East Coast cities are a fraction of the size and importance of LA,” he said.

Nevertheless, Villarigosa said, “In a few years, when [Garcetti’s] The term has ended, I really think someone like Biden would be open to him. “

For Garcetti, he said, “I don’t think it’s over.”

Jeremy B. White contributed to this report.