Former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti was confirmed by the Senate as United States ambassador to India on Wednesday, ending an almost two-year battle over his nomination.
Senators voted 52 to 42 to approve Garcetti for the position. He lost the votes of three Democrats but convinced seven Republicans to cross the corridor, succeeding him in the position.
The result was anything but guaranteed. Democratic defections had mounted on Wednesday morning, with several senators mentioning lingering questions about whether Garcetti learned or should have learned about a former top aide’s alleged sexual harassment of coworkers.
Six senators were not present from Capitol Hill on Wednesday, further complicating the vote counting. But Garcetti’s nomination was saved by the Republican senators who split ranks to help him, including Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, Steve Daines of Montana, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee and Todd Young of Indiana.
Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), who said as recently as last week that she was going to give Garcetti “the benefit of the doubt” that he didn’t know about alleged misconduct by a top aide, said Wednesday morning that she would counter the nomination based on “credible” new information she received. She would not reveal what she had known. Along with Hirono, Democratic Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Mark Kelly of Arizona voted against the nomination.
Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, who is responsible for counting votes for Democrats, had denied predicting Tuesday whether the vote would be successful. Democrats have not “whipped” the vote — or asked each Democratic senator how they plan to vote — “so I don’t suppose any result until we” vote, he said.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who was later diagnosed with shingles in San Francisco, was among the senators who skipped the vote Wednesday. The White House and Garcetti had strongly pushed for a vote to be held, regardless of the result.
Two Republicans already backed Garcetti in committee, it was undecided until the day of the vote whether other Republicans would cross the aisle to rescue a Biden nominee, especially if Democrats balked.
Garcetti supporters claimed that geopolitical crises were too important to leave India without an ambassador. The U.S. Embassy in India has been without an ambassador since January 2021, the longest period in the history of U.S.-India relations that the position has been seated empty.
This has become a grave national security concern of mine — not to have an ambassador in place. Our strategic partners wouldn’t conceive of going two years into the establishment of a government or administration and failing to place their person in the role.
So it’s not an ideal situation, but we have to balance these competing concerns, and I do think he’s equipped to be very successful in that role.”
Young said one of the two Republicans who supported Garcetti in committee.
President Biden nominated Garcetti in July 2021. But the nomination weakened amid the sexual harassment situation. Garcetti told lawmakers that if he had known about the harassment, he would have done something about it.
