Eric Garcetti, First Jewish Mayor Of Los Angeles, Wins Reelection In 81% Landslide

Eric Garcetti Image by Getty Images

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti clinched re-election on Tuesday in a landslide victory that handed him a second four-year term in charge of America’s second-largest city.

Garcetti won 81 percent of the vote, according to a tally of all ballots early on Wednesday.

The nearest of his 10 challengers Mitchell Schwartz, who was California state director of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2007 and 2008, trailed with just 8 percent of the vote.

Garcetti, a 46-year-old Democrat whose mother is Jewish, was “deeply honored” to serve a second term, he said on Twitter early on Wednesday.

During his campaign, the mayor highlighted his support for a measure to raise the city’s minimum wage, and employment gains in the aftermath of a nationwide recession.

Schwartz, 55, made the city’s rising crime rate and soaring housing costs focal points of his campaign, also warning of a looming pension fund crisis.

Garcetti, is the son of former prosecutor Gil Garcetti, whose office tried O.J. Simpson for murder and lost.