Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti during a visit to Altoona.

The mayor of Los Angeles is in Iowa this weekend for a campaign-style tour that includes a Saturday night fundraising banquet for Scott County Democrats and a walk down the street of a booming Des Moines neighborhood this afternoon.

Eric Garcetti told reporters he will decide next year “whether to jump in” to the Democratic presidential race.

“There’s a false dichotomy between red and blue, heartland and coast, rural and urban. The only ‘two Americas’ that exist right now are Washington and the rest of us,” Garcetti said. “I think we are increasingly frustrated to hear and to see what’s coming out of Washington, D.C. that isn’t listening.”

Garcetti told reporters in California this week it is “B.S.” to characterize the nation’s heartland and its coasts as divided against one another. Today, on Iowa soil, Garcetti distanced himself from the so-called “resistance” movement who argue Democrats must be more left-leaning.

“Some people talk about the resistance,” Garcetti said. “I’m more interested in what we can get done. I’m more interested in things that are out there (like) American infrastructure, a sensible trade policy that will result in jobs — not whipsawing us back and forth one day, wondering at the job site if iron is going to be more expensive.”

LA Mayor Eric Garcetti.

Garcetti suggests focusing on “practical things” like health care, education and retirement security will be the path forward for his party.

“I’m not here looking for a new job for me,” Garcetti said. “I’m looking for new jobs for Americans.”

Garcetti made his comments after a tour of a new facility in Altoona where union carpenters are being trained for construction work.

“These aren’t just carpenters. They’re entrepreneurs. They’re keeping up with the most cutting-edge technology,” Garcetti said. “That seems to be a pretty more urgent call for us right now than any of our own futures.”

Garcetti, a former college professor, was re-elected to a second term as Los Angeles mayor last year.

Eric Swalwell

A California congressman says Democrats need to heed the lessons of 2016 in order to retake the U.S. House in 2018.

Congressman Eric Swalwell was in Iowa the past few days, helping local candidates raise money and discussing his party’s approach to win over voters who supported Donald Trump rather than Hillary Clinton.

“It’s really about people who truly were disconnected from opportunity, who were fed up with politics as usual in Washington,” Swalwell said Sunday during an interview with Radio Iowa, “and so we can dismiss who sits in the Oval Office, but we shouldn’t dismiss the people who sent him there and why.”

This isn’t Swalwell’s first visit to Iowa over the past few months and he barely brushes aside the speculation that he may run for president in 2020.

“Let’s win the House and then take our decisions one at a time,” Swalwell said. “But I think for 2020 the best thing the country could see would be a crowded Democratic field with a lot of new energy, new ideas and new leadership.”

Swalwell, who is 37, was born in Sac City in November of 1980, but soon after his family moved to Algona where his father was a policeman.

“He would bring his cop car home and I would tell him all the time I wanted to be a police officer and he would always tell me: ‘It doesn’t work that way,’ and then later would show me when I really could understand what he meant, through his hard work, that he wanted me to be the first in the family to go to college,” Swalwell. said. “So that idea that hard work could mean something and that you could dream bigger for your kids than you could for yourself, that, for me, started in Iowa.”

This weekend in Iowa, Swalwell traveled from the eastern border to central Iowa. He visited a farm near Ankeny on Sunday to highlight what Swalwell called President Trump’s “reckless impulses” on trade.

“We don’t want China to hurt the American workers, but President Trump, his impulses are not the way to go at this,” Swalwell said. “What he needs to do is the hard work of working with our allies to prosecute the case.”

That means “stitching together alliances” with countries in Europe and the Pacific that Swalwell said also are slammed economically by China’s actions rather than a go-it-alone trade war with China.

Swalwell represents the San Francisco bay area in congress. He will be back in Iowa next weekend for a Scott County Democratic Party fundraiser in Davenport. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, another Democrat considered to be a 2020 presidential prospect, will appear at the same event.

Montana Governor Steve Bullock.

Montana Governor Steve Bullock said he’s in Iowa today to help his fellow Democrats prepare for the 2018 election, but there’s a 2020 calculation here, too.

Bullock isn’t ruling out the idea he might run for president and this is Iowa — host to the first round of voting in the nominating process.

“Being a western governor in a state that Donald Trump won by 20 points, yet being able to get progressive things done, I have an important voice for the party and it is an important voice as we go toward 2020,” Bullock said Thursday afternoon during an interview with Radio Iowa.

Bullock won re-election to a second term as Montana’s governor in 2016. He’s a Democrat working with a Republican-dominated legislature. Bullock points to expanding Medicaid, spending state tax dollars on preschool and requiring more public disclosure of campaign donors as bipartisan accomplishments in Montana.

Many Democrats seem enthused about potential White House candidates from the party’s liberal wing, but Bullock is unapologetic about being labeled a moderate.

“If the idea of being a pragmatist is that I’m willing to work with folks on the other side of the aisle to get things done that matter, that I’m o.k. with,” Bullock said. “We can’t just be against and, unfortunately, what we’re seeing a lot, in a lot of places, is just: ‘We’re against Donald Trump.'”

Bullock argued Democrats must channel their energy toward reshaping the party’s brand and convincing voters Democrats care about “pocketbook issues” and share their desires for a good job and a safe community.

“We as a party and individuals need to actually be showing up in places other than the coasts,” Bullock said.

Bullock rejects the notion that “microtargeting” and assembling constituency groups under the banner of the Democratic Party can win the presidency.

“Even if you can do that, you’re going to lose the ability to have a governing majority if you’re not talking in places like Michigan or Wisconsin or Montana or Iowa when it comes to the General Election,” Bullock said.

Bullock, who by law cannot seek a third term as Montana governor, will become chairman of the National Governors Association this summer. He’s formed a political action committee which is financing his political travels. He also plans to use his Big Sky Values PAC to make contributions to Democratic candidates around the country in 2018. It’s all the kind of positioning presidential candidates of the past have made.

“I would hope that anybody that even contemplates the discussion is humbled a little bit by what that takes,” Bullock said of a presidential race, “but hopefully that anybody that contemplates it, too, says that we’re at our best and when we can bring people, a state or a nation together.”

Bullock, who is the former attorney general of Montana, headlined a campaign fundraiser for Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller last night. He’s met with Democrats in the Iowa legislature yesterday and he’ll have a meet-and-greet with Polk County Democrats this evening.

Delaney speaking in Knoxville (posted on @johnkdelaney, the candidate’s Twitter account)

A Maryland Congressman who’s actively campaigning for president is starting this President’s Day with an 8 a.m. meeting in Bloomfield with local Democrats. By tonight, John Delaney will have visited 41 of Iowa’s 99 counties.

“I’m a big believer in life that you have to do the work,” Delaney said this weekend, “and the one thing I know for sure after meeting with Iowans in close to 40 counties is that they do the work on this.”

Iowans who haven’t seen Delaney in person may have seen him on television. He’s spent a million dollars on ads airing on Des Moines and Cedar Rapids stations. His core message to Iowans is that it’s time to ditch “hyperpartisan” politics.

“I think they know our politics is broken,” Delaney said during an interview with Radio Iowa. “I think Democrats here in Iowa really know it’s broken.”

Delaney cited last week’s indictment that accuses Russia of sowing discord among Democrats with online ads in August of 2016 that accused Hillary Clinton of voter fraud in Iowa’s Caucuses.

“What’s more concerning is everyone believes they’re going to do it again,” Delaney said. “…It’s almost like a ship pulls up next to our shores and aims a weapon at us. If a president doesn’t order the military to do something about it, it’s a disloyal act. And I think the president’s failure to direct the intelligence community and the FBI to actually try to do something about this is disloyal to the country and it’s very, very troubling.”

Delaney arrived in Iowa Saturday morning, as the nation was reeling from another mass shooting. Delaney said it’s “disgraceful” congress hasn’t even been able to limit the sale of “bump stocks” — the device used by the man who killed 57 people in Las Vegas last fall.

“Tragedy after tragedy and no response from the federal government, particularly on issues that there’s broad agreement on,” Delaney said. “…The majority of the American people, including a majority of Republicans and a majority of NRA members believe we should have universal background checks and we can’t get it done in the congress.”

The Florida high schoolers who survived last week’s shooting and have become outspoken proponents for gun safety measures may prod congress to act, according to Delaney.

“They’re going to soon be engaged in the democracy, right? All of them are getting ready to vote for the first time…If every high school in the country sets up a club to advocate for this issue, you know, we have about three million kids graduating from high school every year,” Delaney said. “It’s a big impact.”

Delaney met with Madison County Democrats in Winterset Saturday night. He was in Chariton, Knoxville and Albia Sunday. Today, Delaney has a midday stop scheduled in Corydon and he’ll meet with Warren County Democrats tonight in Indianola.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio celebrated recent Democratic Party victories around the country with a crowd of Iowans tonight and he predicted the country was “at the beginning of a progressive era.”

“Change can happen anywhere and it most certainly can happen here in Iowa,” de Blasio said, to cheers and applause.

De Blasio spoke at a fundraiser for Progress Iowa, a group that hosted independent Senator Bernie Sanders in December of 2014, more than a year before Sanders launched his presidential campaign.

De Blasio told a group of reporters his visit to Des Moines was part of a push to get the Democratic Party to address its “identity crisis.”

“This is about beginning at the beginning,” de Blasio said during a late afternoon news conference. “If we’re going to change the country, we need progressive movements to come to the fore. If we’re going to make the Democratic Party competitive everywhere, it will be because there is a progressive economic message and a populist approach.”

De Blasio was just reelected to a second, four-year term as New York City’s mayor and de Blasio told reporters he was not running for president.

Bill de Blasio walks and chews gum.

“But I can walk and chew gum at the same time,” de Blasio said. “I can do my job as mayor of the city and still work on my core beliefs, work to advance causes I believe in that I also believe are fundamentally good for New York City and for the whole country.”

A few minutes later, de Blasio offered a “visual” demonstration. He took a pack of gum from his pocket, popped a piece in his mouth, chewing as he rose from his chair and walked out of the room.

AUDIO of news conference, 16:00

A couple of hours later, de Blasio told the crowd of Democrats that “prairie populism” can flourish in Iowa again if the party pushes that message to all, including those who were “bamboozled” into voting for Donald Trump.

“I don’t want us hung up by who people voted for last time,” de Blasio said. “All I care about is who they’re going to vote for next time.”

AUDIO of de Blasio’s speech, 36:00

About a dozen New York City Police Officers protested on the sidewalk outside the event hall, occasionally chanting “shame” to protest de Blasio’s relationship with their union.