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Los Angeles mayor and a potential presidential candidate visits Youngstown
YOUNGSTOWN
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, a potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, stopped in Youngstown – the first of six Ohio cities he’s visiting as he tours the key presidential swing state.
Garcetti said: “I’ve been the most open thinking about [running for president], but I truly am 100-percent focused on the elections now. Donald Trump isn’t on the ballot this year, but a Congress that enables him is.”
He added that he’s “focused on 2018 because if we don’t get a Congress that represents America’s people, in 2020, we can’t hope a savior is going to come and save this country.”
Garcetti toured Youngs-town on Thursday with Mayor Jamael Tito Brown. He’ll be in Ohio through Saturday with other stops in Cleveland, Independence, Akron, Columbus and Cincinnati.
“I think there are two Americas, but it’s Washington and the rest of us,” he said. “It’s time to get some people that represent local communities” elected to office.
The Los Angeles mayor said he came to Ohio to hear from people in this state, including mayors, about the challenges they face and look for ways that regular people, rather than those in the federal government, can work together.
“Washington isn’t doing anything,” he said. “This has been the least effective Congress we’ve seen in 164 years. We’ve seen folks that are more interested in fighting with each other rather than addressing our problems.”
He said he plans to make a decision about running for president shortly after the November general election.
Garcetti also criticized President Donald Trump, a Republican, saying, “I think he’s not been an effective president. Too many people get caught up in whether they agree with everything he says and his tweet of the moment. Those are distractions. I look at a person’s work. What have you done?”
He added: “I don’t think he’s been effective domestically, and internationally, I think he’s been very threatening. He has taken alliances that has defined who America is and eroded them. He’s so unpredictable that folks wonder whether America can lead internationally.”