He was elected mayor in 2013 and is legally barred from running again when his second term ends next year. The internet news site Axios first reported that Biden was considering Garcetti for the India ambassadorship. But his spokesperson Alex Comisar said, "Axios story is speculative," and added, "We're 100 per cent focused on ending the Covid pandemic and passing a justice budget for the city." NBC TV reported in May that according to two unnamed knowledgeable sources Garcetti was in talks with the Biden administration about the position.

Although Garcetti's political experience has been confined to Los Angeles where he has been mayor since 2013 and city council president before that, he has an academic background in international relations. He has a master's degree in international affairs from Columbia University and was a Rhodes Scholar and has taught international affairs at the University of Southern California and diplomacy at Occidental College. As an academic, his research centred on nationalism in Southeast Asia and Northern Africa.