Eric Garcetti, Los Angeles mayor, says he's not running for president in the 2020 election
- Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti says he is not running for president in the 2020 election.
- "This is not an easy decision given the extraordinary times that we live in," Garcetti, the youngest mayor in Los Angeles history, said on Tuesday.
- The Rhodes Scholar has been mayor of LA, the second-largest city in America, since 2013.
Eric Garcetti says he is not running for president in the 2020 election. "This is not an easy decision given the extraordinary times that we live in, Garcetti, the youngest mayor in Los Angeles history, said on Tuesday.
He made the announcement from Los Angeles City Hall, squashing rumors that have circulated for several months, as he began traveling to key primary states and raising money for the Democratic Party.
"This is where I want to be," the mayor said, adding: "I am so excited to finish the work that we have begun here in Los Angeles."
Garcetti, 47, was born in Los Angeles and raised in Encino, California. He is LA's first Jewish mayor, its second consecutive Mexican-American mayor, and the youngest person in LA history to hold that office. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University in 1992 and a Masters of International Affairs in 1993. He met his wife Amy Wakeland at Oxford University when they were both Rhodes Scholars. The current mayor also holds a PhD in ethnicity and nationalism from the London School of Economics. With Wakeland, he has one daughter.
Garcetti has previously said that a presidential run would not distract him from his responsibilities as mayor, telling the Los Angeles Times that "One thing doesn't affect the other."
Since then, the 2020 Democratic field has grown exponentially.
Read more: Here's everyone who has officially announced they're running for president in 2020
Garcetti made headlines in 2014 for announcing that the Los Angeles Police Department would no longer detain undocumented people with no judicial review.
That same year, Garcetti, along with Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutterand Houston mayor Annise Parker, co-founded the Mayors National Climate Action Agenda, which aims to uphold the emissions goals of the Paris Agreement and opposes the Trump administration's efforts to withdraw from the pact.
As Los Angeles mayor, Garcetti hasn't held back from, albeit infrequently, criticizing Trump and his administration. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Garcetti called Trump the "ultimate caricature," saying he is racist, bigoted, and sexist during a conference call with reporters.