Eric Garcetti in Interviews during 2017-2019

On Principles & Values: There ARE two Americas: Washington DC, and the rest of us

The theme of borders extended to national politics. Garcetti urged the audience to talk to people with opposing political views. "The pundits call it right now in our country that there are two Americas--there's the rural and urban divide, the immigrant and native-born, the coasts and the heartland, red and blue," Garcetti said. "I do believe there are two Americas, but it's none of those--it's Washington, D.C., and the rest of us."

On Abortion: Pro-choice

On Health Care: I'm a single-payer guy

On the stump, Garcetti is light on policy specifics and heavy on the type of hope-and-change rhetoric that launched a little-known Illinois senator with an unusual name to the presidency in 2008. He voices progressive ideals but tries to do so less antagonistically.

He has described himself as "a single-payer guy" on health care. He called for stricter gun restrictions in the wake of this month's Florida high school shooting. He's pro-choice. He prefers a "universal pathway to employment" over the universal basic income proposal some have offered. As a Mexican-American Jew, he proudly touts his own immigrant ancestry.

On Jobs: Universal pathway to employment

While Garcetti is not afraid to talk policy, he posits that's not how elections are won. "We need to speak plain English again," Garcetti said of Democrats. "We can't be the smarty-pants party anymore. I know we have good ideas and once we're in power we should do them, but when we're running elections, people don't want to know your 10-point plan for things. They want to know if you connect with them as a human being."

Garcetti sought to cast the glitzy reputation of LA as not so estranged from the everyday problems of Americans elsewhere. "Yes, it's true, I come from Los Angeles," he said. "But we are people who have dreams and hopes and are just as frustrated as you are about the direction of this country."