Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti says he is not running for president

[January 30, 2019]  (Reuters) - Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said on Tuesday he would not join what is likely to be a crowded field of candidates vying for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

"I have decided not to throw my hat into the ring to run for president in 2020," Garcetti told a news conference at City Hall.

Garcetti, 47, who was re-elected in 2017 to a second term as mayor of the country's second-largest city, said: "It may be out of vogue today but I kind of believe that whenever possible you should finish the job you set out to do."

Last year, Garcetti fueled speculation that he would seek the presidential nomination with trips to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, states that hold some of the earliest presidential nominating contests.

A fellow Californian, U.S. Senator Kamala Harris, launched her White House bid last week, becoming the latest Democrat to seek the party's nomination to face Republican President Donald Trump in the November 2020 election.

Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand, former San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro and U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard are among those already in the race, and more U.S. senators are weighing bids.

Garcetti was an early backer of Democrat Barack Obama's first White House bid in 2008, and acted as a Spanish-speaking surrogate for Obama's campaign in key states ahead of the election. He backed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 race against Trump.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti delivers remarks at The United States Conference of Mayors winter meeting in Washington, U.S., January 24, 2019. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

He is the son of former Los Angeles County District Attorney Gil Garcetti, who was the city's top prosecutor during the murder trial of O.J. Simpson in the 1990s.

(Reporting by Amanda Becker and Eric Beech in Washington; Editing by Peter Cooney; Editing by)

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