Mayor Eric Garcetti floated himself as a potential presidential candidate for 18 months earlier than telling Angelenos final yr he wouldn’t run as a result of he needed to “end the job” of operating L.A.
Now, Garcetti may face one other job prospect.
The mayor didn’t present a definitive reply Wednesday when requested by The Occasions whether or not he’d like to hitch a Joe Biden Cupboard ought to the Democratic candidate be elected president. Garcetti endorsed Biden earlier this yr when the prospects for his nomination had been unsure, and serves as a co-chair of his marketing campaign.
Garcetti, whose time period ends in 2022, mentioned that “it’s extra possible than not” that he’ll be L.A.’s mayor in two years.
“However I all the time have a look at it very brazenly about, you recognize, what can I assist the most individuals with?” he added.
Numerous publications have prompt he may very well be named to go the Division of Transportation or the Housing and City Growth Division, regardless of a combined report on each transportation and homelessness.
If a suggestion from the White Home does come, it wouldn’t be the primary time. Garcetti was requested by President Obama to serve within the White Home overseeing city coverage, however the then-councilman turned it right down to run for mayor in 2013.
Cameron French, a spokesman for the Biden transition staff, mentioned Wednesday that no personnel choices had been being made earlier than the election. The Biden marketing campaign declined to remark.
Garcetti has traveled to 2 debates in the course of the pandemic and mentioned Wednesday that he’s working “very arduous as co-chair” for Biden. He additionally served on the vetting staff that helped decide Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) as Biden’s operating mate. The Washington Submit reported that the vetting staff logged greater than 120 hours on the method.
Requested how a lot time he’s spending operating town nowadays, Garcetti mentioned “there’s been no discount in my hours by any means.”
The mayor additionally mentioned Wednesday that he “doesn’t have a secret plan to get to Washington.”
During the last 4 years, Garcetti has at factors traveled extensively out of state, launched a nonprofit targeted on spurring financial growth throughout the nation, raised cash for the Democratic Occasion in key voting states, and in contrast himself to presidential candidates, all suggesting to some he’s squarely targeted on at some point attending to the White Home.
Whoever does get to Washington must develop the Part eight housing program so that everybody who qualifies can obtain rental help, Garcetti mentioned Wednesday.
“It weighs heavy on me that I feel no mayor by him or herself goes to have the ability to single-handedly resolve homelessness,” he mentioned. “And I feel even a metropolis and county at their greatest are going to be hard-pressed to resolve this.”
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