President Joe Biden’s picks for various American ambassadorships were reported Thursday by multiple outlets. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti was tapped to be Ambassador to India.
Former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel is tapped to be Ambassador to Japan and former State Department official Nicholas Burns is expected to serve as the ambassador to China.
Garcetti’s nomination to the post of ambassador to India would need to be approved by the U.S. State Department.
Right now Garcetti is still slated to serve as mayor of Los Angeles through 2022. If he departs the position for the new ambassador post the LA City Council would either need to temporarily appoint someone to fill the role or hold a special election for a new mayor.
Garcetti had previously said last December that he wouldn’t accept (what was at the time) a non-specified role in the Biden administration because he wanted to stay in Los Angeles and help the city manage its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time Garcetti told the Los Angeles Times, “Joe Biden told me for the last few years that he was very interested in me coming to Washington, D.C., and there were things on the table for me.”
(Excerpt) Read more in: The Wrap