Eric Garcetti was back in Los Angeles Tuesday after a campaign appearance in New Hampshire for a local candidate that raised questions about a possible presidential bid by the Los Angeles mayor.
New Hampshire is famously the nation’s first state to hold a presidential primary election, and the Democratic race for the nomination in 2020 is considered wide open. There is no leading contender to face an expected reelection try by President Donald Trump.
However, there was no confirmation or speculation from the Garcetti camp about the New Hampshire visit being linked to a possible presidential campaign.
During his New Hampshire trip, Garcetti spoke to volunteers at Joyce Craig’s mayoral campaign headquarters in Manchester, to the Manchester Young Democrats and to a fundraiser for Craig, Garcetti political adviser Yusef Robb told City News Service.
“Amidst chaos in Washington and widespread economic anxiety, he reminded Manchester voters that mayors can most directly affect their everyday lives, from job creation to infrastructure to education,” Robb said.
Garcetti was introduced to Craig through the National Conference of Democratic Mayors, Robb said.
Garcetti told WMUR-TV, the ABC affiliate in Manchester, he would return to New Hampshire, site of the nation’s first presidential primaries.
Garcetti drew criticism from New Hampshire Republican Party Chairman Jeanie Forrester for creating the Los Angeles Justice Fund, a public-private partnership providing legal assistance to immigrants facing deportation, WMUR reported.
Following the City Council’s June 23 approval of donating $2 million over the next two fiscal years to the fund, Garcetti said it would allow more families to remain intact “and more people will be able to build lives with the people they love, in the country they chose.”
—City News Service