Elections In July 2013, after
Bob Foster announced he would not seek reelection, Garcia announced his candidacy and entered the race for Long Beach mayor. He received 25.4% of the vote in the April 8, 2014, election, finishing first in a field of 10 mayoral candidates. In the runoff election between Garcia and
Damon Dunn (22.3% of the vote) on June 3, Garcia won with 52% of the vote, and took office on July 15. Garcia was reelected on April 11, 2018, with about 80% of the vote.
Tenure Garcia's first 100 days as mayor were characterized by a focus on education and seating commissioners to fill vacancies on citizen commissions. He committed the City of Long Beach to joining local educational institutions as a signatory to the Long Beach College Promise, and announced a goal of universal preschool enrollment and doubling the number of internships in the city for local students. He appointed more than 60 commissioners, creating the most diverse slate of commissioners in the city's history. A majority of his appointments were women. His State of the City address used a large digital screen to display data and graphics, winning acclaim for its visual appeal and use of technology. The speech highlighted education, economic development, and sustainability, among other issues. Garcia's focus on economic development has been exemplified by his revival of the inactive Economic Development Commission, and acquisition of a $3 million innovation grant from
Bloomberg Philanthropies During his first term, construction on a new civic center began, and voters approved a temporary sales tax to support infrastructure and public safety, which Garcia initiated. Garcia focused on economic development, public safety and infrastructure, education, technology, and building housing. As mayor, Garcia proposed 10 ballot initiatives for public safety, infrastructure, term limits, and creating ethics and redistricting commissions, among other things; each passed. This includes Measure BBB, which limited the number of terms the mayor can serve.
International trade and human rights Garcia led America's second largest
container port, the
Port of Long Beach. During his tenure, he worked to implement climate goals and traveled the world to establish trade relationships with multinational companies and trading nations, including Japan,
Korea, China,
Taiwan, Singapore,
Cambodia,
Vietnam, Chile,
Denmark,
Peru,
Switzerland and Germany. He visited Peru and Honduras in partnership with the Victory Institute and the
State Department on missions to expand LGBTQ rights worldwide. He also visited Israel and the West Bank.
Labor and worker rights Garcia fostered the first citywide Project Labor Agreement (PLA) between the City of Long Beach, the Los Angeles/Orange Counties Building and the Construction Trades Council to promote opportunities for local-hire on local-capital construction projects. Since its approval and implementation, 25 construction projects valued at more than $146 million have been built by a local labor workforce. Garcia also supported the unionization of cannabis and hotel workers and the organization of dock and port laborers, and fought against attempts in the city to contract work outside of the community. He supported organized labor to increase workers' minimum wage before the California State Legislature took action. Most recently, he worked to pass the city's first recall and retention plan in response to workers laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Environment and climate change In 2015, Garcia signed the Global Covenant of Mayors, a global coalition working to collectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance
resilience to climate change. Following his lead, Long Beach continued its dedication to climate change action and developed its first-ever Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP). Through the CAAP, the City of Long Beach has partnered with over 30 local businesses to help reduce their environmental impacts. These Certified Green Businesses follow guidelines for energy and water conservation, pollution prevention, waste management, employee commute, and community education. During his tenure, the Long Beach Port closely adhered to the Clean Air Action Plan. More recently, Long Beach banned Styrofoam, plastic straws, and plastic bags.
Public health Garcia has said that he views access to health care as a fundamental human right and has been a strong supporter of Medicare for All. In 2020, he and Oakland Mayor
Libby Schaaf formed Mayors 4 Medicare, a coalition of U.S. mayors dedicated to ensuring people across the country have access to health care.
Controversies Mayoral campaign donation The purchaser of the Garcia-co-owned Long Beach Post was Cindy Allen, whose firm ETA Advertising—where Garcia had recently worked as Public Relations Director—performed nearly $11,000 in work for Garcia's mayoral campaign which was never paid for, an apparent illegal in-kind campaign contribution far in excess of the $800 municipal limit at the time. The Garcia campaign "zero’d out" the unpaid bill in a campaign finance report after the election, referring to it as an “overestimate”. Allen's firm received numerous city contracts after Garcia became mayor, and he later supported her run for Long Beach City Council.
Past Republican activism Garcia was the California Youth Coordinator for
George W. Bush's 2000 presidential campaign. He also founded the Long Beach Young Republicans in 2005. Describing himself as socially liberal and fiscally conservative, Garcia guided and organized the Young Republicans, which developed a charter that was recognized as an official club by the Los Angeles County Republicans. Garcia also worked as an aide to Republican former vice mayor Frank Colonna when he was on the City Council and ran Colonna's unsuccessful bid in the
2006 Long Beach, California mayoral election. Garcia changed his party registration to Democratic in 2007, the year before launching a campaign for city council in Long Beach's heavily Democratic District 1. He and his family originally registered as
Republicans, Garcia has said, when they became citizens, in admiration of President
Ronald Reagan signing the
Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. In the past, Garcia has been accused of lying about his time as a Young Republican activist, dismissing it as merely a previous party registration, during a time when he was “apolitical”. While running for mayor, he told the
Orange County Register that "he didn’t think about politics while in college and that rumors that he worked for the George W. Bush administration or campaign are untrue." Yet the paper concluded that "it turns out Garcia was much more involved than he claimed." According to the Daily Bruin in 2000, “He landed the job of California Youth Coalition Coordinator for the Bush-Cheney campaign by writing letters to their national headquarters in Austin and walking into local GOP offices to volunteer to help elect Bush.” Garcia was criticized for his past Republican activism in his first campaign for office for Long Beach City Council, as well as briefly during his primary campaign for mayor in a crowded field of candidates, when he competed unsuccessfully against Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal for the local Democratic endorsement. ==State and national politics==