Garcetti will not serve in the Biden administration

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti admitted Thursday night that he would not serve in the Biden administration, defusing the long-held assumption that he would be rewarded for his support for the president-elect.

Garcetti said he turned down an unspecified administrative position – claiming that “Joe Biden has told me over the past two years that he’s very interested in me coming to Washington, DC, and that there were things on the table for me “- and said he would instead remain mayor of California’s largest city.

“As the administration contacted me about the service, I let them know early this week that my city needed me now, and then I want to be here and I need to be here,” Garcetti said.

The ad served as a stunning coda to Garcetti’s long alliance with the Biden campaign. The Democratic mayor was a steadfast substitute for Biden, serving as co-chair of Biden’s campaign and breaking with most of California’s elected Democrats by not approving Senator Kamala Harris’ race at the time.

In the weeks following Biden’s victory, Garcetti was reportedly vying to be transport secretary or envoy for climate policy. But as Biden filled his cabinet, Garcetti didn’t get the call multiple times.

Long considered a promising rising star in California, Garcetti has recently gone through increasing criticism in his hometown. Activists aligned with Black Lives Matter protested daily outside his residence to oppose a potential administrative role, pointing to the brutal handling of racial justice protests by law enforcement this summer. A growing public inquiry into corruption has cast a veil on Los Angeles politics, and a growing homelessness crisis has tested Garcetti’s resistance.

And allegations of sexual misconduct against Garcetti’s main politician, Rick Jacobs, threaten to entrap the mayor, with a judge on Thursday ordering Garcetti to be filed in a lawsuit filed by longtime bodyguard of Garcetti, who alleged that Jacobs harassed him.

Before becoming one of Biden’s most prominent supporters, Garcetti had weighed a race for the White House. But he withdrew in the early stages of the Democratic nomination contest, citing urgent local issues.