Meet Eric Garcetti, Who Is Expected To Be Next US Ambassador To India

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New Delhi: A Senate committee has approved former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti's nomination to be the United States Ambassador to India. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee supported the nomination by a vote of 13-8 on Wednesday. Garcetti was first nominated for mayor by US Vice President Joe Biden in July 2021 as ambassador to India, and the committee initially and was approved in January 2022.

Yet, his candidature has been stalled for a year due to charges that Garcetti knew about sexual harassment committed by one of his former senior advisers and failed to do anything about it.

Here’s all you need to know about Eric Garcetti: 

• Eric Michael Garcetti was born in Los Angeles, California on February 4, 1971.
• Garcetti is a member of the Democratic Party, and he was first elected in 2013 and then re-elected in 2017.
• From 2013 to 2022, he was the 42nd mayor of Los Angeles and a member of the Democratic Party.
• Garcetti was the city's first elected Jewish mayor and its second Mexican American mayor in a row.
• He was 42 at the time of his inauguration, making him the youngest mayor in almost 100 years.
• Garcetti was a former member of the Los Angeles City Council and served as City Council President from 2006 to 2012.
• In early spring 2007, he endorsed Barack Obama and served as the Southern California chairman and one of six state co-chairs for the Obama campaign.
• Garcetti has been a staunch opponent of the Yes California separatist movement and has been rumoured to run for president in 2020, but has decided to serve out his term as mayor.
• He formally endorsed Joe Biden for the Democratic presidential campaign in 2020 and was declared a candidate for Secretary of Transportation in the Biden Administration in January 2020.
• Joseph Biden nominated Garcetti to be the United States' ambassador to India in July 2021.
• Garcetti has faced criticism for his handling of a sexual misconduct case involving his top advisor, Rick Jacobs, which has led to some senators opposing his confirmation.

GOP Senator Young defended his decision to vote in favour of Garcetti. "It's in our national security interest to have an ambassador immediately in place in India in order to balance China, work with the US throughout the Indo-Pacific...He has an imperfect resume, but the skills to succeed in this capacity," Young said. The White House remains fully confident in Garcetti. It informed reporters last week that Garcetti is eligible to be the United States ambassador to India.