Garcetti’s confirmation was stalled for months over concerns that he allegedly did not properly handle accusations of sexual harassment made against one of his former staffers.
The Senate on Wednesday moved one step closer to confirming Eric Garcetti to be the U.S. ambassador to India, more than a year and a half after President Biden originally nominated the former Los Angeles mayor to the key diplomatic post.
In a 52-42 tally, the Senate voted Wednesday to end debate on Garcetti’s nomination, clearing the way for a confirmation vote by the full Senate later Wednesday afternoon. A few Democratic senators voted no, but enough Republicans voted in support to give Garcetti’s nomination the simple majority that it needed to advance. As late as two hours before the cloture vote, Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) had said he was still unsure if Garcetti had the votes to get confirmed.
“Let’s just say I think we can find somebody that will do the job better,” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), one of the Democrats who voted no, told the Associated Press Wednesday morning, without elaborating on why.
Garcetti, a prominent Democrat who served as co-chair of Biden’s presidential campaign, was nominated for the position in July 2021. His confirmation was stalled for months over concerns that he allegedly did not properly handle accusations of sexual harassment made against one of his former staffers, reportedly triggering private reservations from even some Democrats.
In March 2022, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) placed a hold on Garcetti’s nomination, and two months later released a report detailing multiple accusations of sexual harassment made against Garcetti’s former deputy chief of staff, Rick Jacobs.
