L.A. Mayor Garcetti won’t seek Brown’s job

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Sunday that he won’t run for governor of California.

“We have a lot of work left to do to build a stronger city, state and nation and I know I can best build on our progress here in L.A.,” he wrote on Twitter. “I am passionate about my city and my family; both are here in Los Angeles.”

Garcetti’s announcement is not considered a major surprise, given that the field to replace Gov. Jerry Brown in 2018 is filled with Democratic heavyweights including Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Since he was re-elected as mayor in a landslide this year, there have been questions about where Garcetti would go next. The governor’s race had been one option. Another was running for U.S. Senate, but that was before Dianne Feinstein announced she would seek another term.

Some have suggested Garcetti could be a presidential candidate in 2020.

The mayor has been talking to Democratic donors and national political reporters and visited New Hampshire, the first primary state. But he has not officially announced an interest in running for president or shut down speculation either.

“I think all the rules are off,” he told a Wisconsin TV interviewer during a June visit to the swing state. “No African American could be president until one was. No reality star could be president until one is.”