Visiting Iowa and glad-handing the Democratic faithful this week, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti signaled that he’ll run for president in 2020.
But what will he run on?
I mean, the mayor’s record between 2013 and now isn’t exactly great.
Los Angeles has a vast pension liability problem, a high poverty rate, and soaring taxes. And thanks to the zealous deference of mayors like Garcetti to Tom Steyer’s hard-line environmental lobby, Californians pay nearly double for their energy bills what Nevadans next door pay.
All of this means that Los Angeles is a very expensive place to live. Which explains, in part, why the city has a surging homeless population.
Garcetti has also presided over a steady increase in crime rates. Between 2010 and 2016, violent crime rates increased by a staggering 27 percent.
Don’t get me wrong, I recognize that if Garcetti does run for president he’ll have his pockets full of Hollywood donor cash.
But the question for his primary strategists will be a complex one to answer: How does a candidate with Garcetti’s record run for president in a national landscape in which voters lack trust in politicians and want results above all else?
I don’t know how they answer that question.
