By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, MARY CLARE JALONICK and CHRIS MEGERIAN
WASHINGTON — The long-stalled nomination of former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to become ambassador to India faced a make-or-break vote in the Senate on Wednesday amid questions about support from his own party and fallout from a sexual harassment scandal involving a former top adviser.
The nomination cleared a key test vote in the Democratic-controlled Senate, 52-42. The vote unfolded with some suspense, as it wasn’t clear the progressive Democrat would have enough support to advance. But he was able to win over a handful of Republican senators, putting him over the top. A final vote was scheduled for later in the day.
Democrat Garcetti’s nomination for the prominent diplomatic post has languished in the Senate for 20 months, after President Joe Biden first named him in July 2021.
The vacancy in the ambassadorship has left a significant diplomatic gap for the administration at a time of rising global tensions, including China’s increasingly assertive presence in the Pacific region and Russia’s war with Ukraine.
The nomination has been freighted with questions about what the former mayor knew, and when, about sexual harassment allegations against his friend and once-close adviser, Rick Jacobs. A lawsuit alleges that Jacobs frequently harassed one of the then-mayor’s police bodyguards while Garcetti ignored the abuse or laughed it off.
Garcetti has repeatedly denied the claims.
Wednesday’s vote tested Democratic loyalty to Biden, and also measured assessments of Garcetti’s judgment and trustworthiness, stemming from the City Hall allegations.
“I think we can find somebody that will do the job better,” said Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio.”
Garcetti also failed to win over Democrat Mark Kelly of Arizona, who said he had “serious concerns.”
With a break in Democratic support, it still was possible Garcetti’s nomination could be salvaged by crossover support from…
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