The trip will make Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti the first prospective presidential candidate to visit all four of the first nominating states this cycle. | Amanda Edwards/Getty Images Garcetti edges toward presidential run with trip to Iowa

Eric Garcetti is stopping just short of announcing he’s running for president.

The Los Angeles mayor and expected 2020 candidate is making a two-day swing through Iowa April 13-14, with stops in Des Moines, Altoona, Davenport and Waterloo, hitting a union event, a political fundraiser and local tours along the way.


The trip will make Garcetti the first prospective presidential candidate to visit all four of the first nominating states this cycle: he campaigned for Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig in New Hampshire in August, attended the Democratic National Committee’s meeting in Las Vegas in October and traveled to Columbia, South Carolina to promote his “Accelerator for America“ nonprofit last month.

Elesha Gayman, a former Iowa state legislator and secretary of the Scott County Democrats, said that Garcetti’s outspokenness on immigration and sanctuary cities helped put him on the radar of her group. It invited him to speak at its annual Red, White and Blue Dinner at the Davenport Radisson.

“A lot of individuals are looking at him as a real leader in human rights and there was definitely interest in him,” Gayman said. She added, however, “I think people are still trying to figure out who’s who, so it’s more introductory.”

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Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), who’s also been mentioned as a potential candidate, will address the dinner as well.

Garcetti built the trip around a visit to the new United Brotherhood of Carpenters

training center in Altoona. The union is the single largest backer of Accelerator for America, and a big supporter of Garcetti.

He’ll also scheduled to take a tour of Des Moines with Mayor Frank Cownie and will go to Waterloo, in the northeast of the state. His wife, Amy Elaine Wakeland, has family roots in the area, though she is not scheduled to join him for the trip.

“The thrust of the trip is to support our fellow Democrats in the run-up to the midterms, but Mayor Garcetti’s also interested in hearing what’s on people’s minds across the country and exchanging ideas with Iowa residents and officials alike,” said Garcetti adviser Yusef Robb, confirming the trip.

Garcetti is also doing early state political maintenance at home in Los Angeles. On March 25 he’s hosting a fundraiser for Jacky Rosen, the Democratic candidate for Senate from Nevada, and is in discussions to host a similar event for the South Carolina Democratic Party on May 15.



CORRECTION: This post has been updated to correct the spelling of Amy Elaine Wakeland's name.