LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti will travel to the early presidential election caucus state of Iowa today for a two-day visit.
Garcetti, a Democrat, has already acknowledged that he is considering a run for president, and the Friday-Saturday trip follows the mayor's recent visits to the early primary states of New Hampshire, where he campaigned for Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig before she was elected, and South Carolina, where he promoted his ``Accelerator for America'' nonprofit.
The mayor's spokesman, Yusef Robb, said Garcetti ``will be in Iowa to support Democrats leading up to the 2018 midterms and to learn what's on people's minds and to see how they can work together to move each other and our nation forward at a time when there is so little leadership from Washington.''
Speaking at a news conference in Sacramento on Tuesday, Garcetti made connections between Iowa, which is one of the whitest states in the country, and California, one of the nation's most diverse. President Donald Trump also won Iowa in the 2016 election, while California was won by Hillary Clinton, but Garcetti said he sees a lot of similarities.
``We're the same as Iowa,'' Garcetti said in remarks reported by the Los Angeles Times. ``These divisions that there's the heartland and the coast to me are B.S.''
Garcetti said that ``Los Angeles is the heartland, and Iowa is the cutting edge. They have 31.3 percent of their power generated by wind, by renewable, the highest in the country. They are a manufacturing capital like we are. They're a farm state; we're a farm state. I think we struggle with the same things: Will politicians listen to us? Will we have a country that brings us together rather than rips us apart?''
Garcetti's trip itinerary includes a stop in Altoona to tour a new carpenter training facility with Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie and Altoona Mayor Dean O'Connor. He is also set to travel to Des Moines today to make brief remarks at a meet-and-greet event with the Asian and Latino Coalition, and attend a reception and dinner for One Iowa, a statewide LGBTQ organization.
On Saturday, Garcetti is scheduled to have breakfast in Des Moines with firefighters ending their shifts and with law enforcement leaders at Mullets restaurant, and also make brief informal remarks at a meet-and-greet with Polk County Democrats at Cooney's Tavern.
Garcetti is also expected to travel to Waterloo on Saturday, where he will tour the Cedar Valley Tech Works campus with Waterloo Mayor Quentin Hart before traveling to Davenport to attend a reception and then deliver an address at the Scott County Democrats' Red, White and Blue Dinner.
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