Former Senator majority leader Harry Reid is dead at age 82. He was Nevada's longest-serving member of Congress.
The combative former boxer-turned-lawyer was widely-acknowledged as one of toughest dealmakers in Congress, a conservative Democrat in an increasingly polarized chamber who vexed lawmakers of both parties with a brusque manner and this motto:Over a 34-year career in Washington, Reid thrived on behind-the-scenes wrangling and kept the Senate controlled by his party through two presidents - Republican George W.
He was known in Washington for his abrupt style, typified by his habit of unceremoniously hanging up the phone without saying goodbye.He was frequently underestimated, most recently in the 2010 elections when he looked like the underdog to tea party favorite Sharron Angle. Ambitious Democrats, assuming his defeat, began angling for his leadership post. But Reid defeated Angle, 50 percent to 45 percent, and returned to the pinnacle of his power. For Reid, it was legacy time.
The future senator put himself through George Washington University law school by working nights as a U.S. Capitol police officer. After his election as Senate majority leader in 2007, he was credited with putting Nevada on the political map by pushing to move the state's caucuses to February, at the start of presidential nominating season. That forced each national party to pour resources into a state which, while home to the country's fastest growth over the past two decades, still only had six votes in the Electoral College.
Reid championed suicide prevention, often telling the story of his father, a hard-rock miner who took his own life. He stirred controversy in 2010 when he said in a speech on the floor of the Nevada legislature it was time to end legal prostitution in the state. Reid's Senate particularly chafed members of the House, both Republicans and Democrats. When then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, muscled Obama's health care overhaul through the House in 2009, a different version passed the Senate and the reconciliation process floundered long enough for Republicans to turn it into an election-year weapon they used to demonize the California Democrat and cast the legislation as a big-government power grab.
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