IT HAS BEEN 20 MONTHS DURING HE WAS NOMINATED; ROUNDING TO TWO YEARS IN TOP FEEL FREE TO CHANGE.

Eric Garcetti is officially the US Ambassador to India.

The former LA mayor and newly minted ambassador was sworn in Friday by Vice President Kamala Harris, a fellow Californian. The ceremony concluded Garcetti’s dramatic nearly two years

fight

to fill one of Washington’s most critical diplomatic posts.

“It feels great. I can’t wait to serve,” Garcetti said, giving two thumbs up after the ceremony at Harris’s ceremonial office, located in a building next to the White House. “I am so honored that the vice president did this today.”

A grinning Garcetti raised his right hand as Harris performed the ceremony, and family members cheered as the two old friends shook hands.

The Senate voted 52 to 42 earlier this month to confirm Garcetti, after his nomination stalled for nearly two years over concerns about whether the former mayor knew or should have known of sexual harassment allegations against a former top aide. In an unexpected plot twist, seven Republicans crossed the aisle to help him secure the post, while three Democrats opposed him.

President Biden, a close political ally of the mayor, first nominated Garcetti in July 2021. Garcetti passed his first Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing by a unanimous vote in late 2021, but his path was soon blocked by allegations against his former assistant, Rick Jacobs. . Garcetti has denied any knowledge of the allegations.

Biden declined to name a new candidate and even renamed Garcetti on the first day of the new Congress in January, sending an unmistakable message that the president stood by his choice.

Garcetti single-handedly tried to win over skeptical senators. The former mayors parents former LA County Dist. attentive Gil Garcetti and Sukey Garcetti hired lobbyists to secure his confirmation and spent $90,000 in 2022 alone, according to federal records.

“I contacted him to make sure he still wanted me,” Garcetti told the Times after being confirmed in the Senate. “I can tell you unequivocally that he said, ‘Eric, I’m still 100% behind you.'”

The US has no ambassador to India as of January 2020. Biden has sought to strengthen economic ties with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi while countering China’s growing influence in the region and bolstering support for Ukraine against continued Russian aggression. Modi has not explicitly condemned the Russian invasion and has continued to buy cheap gas from Moscow, shrugging off US and European sanctions aimed at depriving Russian President Vladimir Putin of the ability to fund the war.

The ceremony in Harris’s office also marked a personal moment between two politicians who

ascended the political world of California together

. Harris and Garcetti

relation

spans more than 15 years, during which she served as California Attorney General and later as a state senator.

During Biden’s successful presidential run, Garcetti, then the national co-chair of the Biden campaign, recalled trudging through the snow in Iowa with Harris

in 2008

to knock on doors for then-Sen. Barack Obama. He has also spoken about their bond about being mixed race: Harris is of Indian and Jamaican descent and Garcetti is Jewish and Mexican American.

Garcetti’s parents, his wife, Amy Wakeland, and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff stood beside the former mayor to mark the occasion. Garcetti’s daughter, Maya, kept the historic Hebrew Bible on loan from the Library of Congress that was used for the ceremony.

Asked when he plans to travel to India, Garcetti said, “Hopefully as soon as possible.”