After 2-year Senate saga, ambassador to India is confirmed
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Wednesday confirmed former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to be the U.S. ambassador to India, ending a two-year saga that left a top diplomatic post vacant amid allegations that he mishandled workplace misconduct and sexual harassment.
Garcetti was confirmed by a vote of 52-42, with a few Democratic senators who had expressed deep reservations voting “no” but several more Republicans voting in favor of moving forward, effectively saving Garcetti’s bid from collapse.
It was a victory for President Joe Biden, who stuck by his political ally in the face of the allegations and the prolonged process that has left the United States without a permanent envoy in one of the world’s most populous and geopolitically important democracies.
“The United States-India relationship is extremely important,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. the majority leader, said after a test vote earlier Wednesday. “It’s a very good thing we now have an ambassador.” He offered no specific praise for Garcetti.
Garcetti, who dropped a presidential exploratory bid in 2019 to become an early backer of Biden’s campaign, had been on the shortlist for a number of Cabinet posts before the president nominated him to be ambassador to India. But his nomination languished amid a Republican blockade of Biden’s Senate-confirmed nominees. It sank further after Senate Republicans produced an investigative report last year that found “numerous credible allegations from multiple whistleblowers” of misconduct by a top aide to Garcetti, and asserted that “it is more likely than not that Mayor Garcetti either had personal knowledge of the sexual harassment or should have been aware of it.”
Garcetti has consistently denied the accusations, and the White House has dismissed them as partisan attacks, but they effectively stalled action in the Senate, leaving Garcetti’s fate up in the air. The nomination died at the end of the last Congress, and in January, Biden renominated Garcetti.
In an interview Wednesday, Garcetti said he never considered withdrawing from contention and that Biden had encouraged him to stay the course.
“I had check-ins with the president, and he was 100 percent behind me,” Garcetti said. “They said, ‘We believe in you, and we want you here.’ They said, ‘It’s going to take some hard work, but we think you should serve.’ ”