The Senate will vote on Wednesday to appoint former Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti as ambassador to India. But after nearly a two-year delay, the outcome is still uncertain.

An unusually high absenteeism rate among senators and lingering doubts about how much Garcetti knew about the alleged sexual harassment of a former top aide have brought a rare level of uncertainty to the vote.

The Senate will vote Wednesday morning on a procedural motion related to the nomination. If successful, confirmation will be voted on Wednesday afternoon.

Sen Richard J.

Dublin Durbin

of Illinois, which is responsible for counting votes for Democrats, declined Tuesday to predict whether the vote would be successful. Democrats haven’t “passed” the vote or asked every Democratic senator how they plan to vote “so I’m not assuming an outcome until we vote,” he said.

It’s unusual for a high-profile nomination to go to the Senate floor and lose. But the White House and Garcetti have pushed strongly for a vote, regardless of the outcome.

That has one

vice versa

around some Democrats who have publicly expressed concern about whether Garcetti knew about the alleged sexual harassment of his former aide, Rick Jacobs.

While at least two Republicans have already supported Garcetti on the committee, it’s uncertain

will depend on

other Republicans would cross the aisle to save a Biden nominee, especially if the Democrats decline.

In addition, several senators are absent from Washington this week, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who was recently diagnosed with shingles in San Francisco.

If the vote fails, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (DN.Y.) has the option to revisit the nomination in the future.

President Biden nominated Garcetti in July 2021. But the nomination wilted amid concerns about sexual harassment. Garcetti told lawmakers that if he had known about the harassment, he would have done something about it.

With Republicans promising to run the nomination slowly, Senate Democrats

last year

were unwilling to waste precious floor time

to move

the nomination it

and instead wanted to focus on legislation that could pass the Democrat-controlled House.

When Republicans took control of the House this year, Senate Democrats pushed most legislation to the back burner and prioritized moving deadlocked candidates.

The US Embassy in India has been without an ambassador since January 2021, the longest period in the history of US-India relations that the post has been vacant.

GOP Sens. Indiana’s Todd Young, Tennessee’s Bill Hagerty and xxxxx crossed the aisle in support of the nomination. Democratic Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona xxxx opposed.