Longtime Democratic operative Mitchell Schwartz, who played important roles in the first Obama presidential campaign and the Clinton White House, said Tuesday he plans to run against Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2017.
Schwartz, 55, told the Los Angeles Times he plans to take out papers for his campaign in the coming weeks.
A political strategist who directed Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign in California and served as communications director for the State Department under President Bill Clinton, Schwartz would be the first challenger with a significant political resume to enter the 2017 mayoral race.
“Obviously, I’m a little bit of an underdog,” Schwartz told The Times. “But I’m determined to do this. And once I’m in it, I want to win.”
Schwartz said he has been exploring a mayoral run and holding meetings with potential supporters since the fall.
Schwartz told The Times he decided to run out of concern that the city is not dealing effectively with surging homelessness, rising crime, decaying infrastructure and patterns of real estate development that Schwartz characterized as “out of control.”
“This is not about Eric Garcetti. I know Eric and I like Eric. He’s a nice guy,” Schwartz told The Times. “But the quality-of-life issues that are facing this city are all trending badly.”
Garcetti campaign manager Bill Carrick declined to comment to The Times.
–City News Service