Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., delivers a speech at the YearlyKos convention in Las Vegas on June 10, 2006.
AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File
- Harry Reid served in both state and federal political positions throughout his decades-long career.
- In 1983, Reid was elected by Nevada’s 1st District to the House of Representatives.
- Reid retired from the senate in 2017.
On January 12, former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will lie in state at the US Capitol Rotunda as part of a formal ceremony before his burial, according to a press release from current Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Reid began his decades-long career as Nevada’s lieutenant governor before launching a successful bid to represent the state’s 1st district in the US House of Representatives in 1983. By the next election cycle, he secured himself a seat in the Senate, where he would lead the Democratic Caucus for 12 years and eventually become majority leader.
“One of the most commanding and consequential Senate Majority Leaders in history, he forged extraordinary legislative progress: rescuing our economy during the Great Recession, protecting hardworking families with Wall Street reforms and moving our nation closer to our goal of universal health coverage,” Pelosi said in a press release.
Before his retirement in 2017, Reid helped enact several pieces of landmark legislation, including the Affordable Care Act, the Dodd–Frank Act, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, according to the press release.
“He was tough-as-nails strong, but caring and compassionate, and always went out of his way quietly to help people who needed help,” Schumer said in a press release. “Harry never forgot where he came from, and I will miss my dear friend and mentor greatly.”
