Photo: Brendan Hoffman / Getty Images
Photo: Brendan Hoffman / Getty Images
Harry Reid, one of the most leaders of the majority Senate pastors and a Democrat who played a central role in enacting the President’s greatest legislative accomplishments Barack Obama , died on Tuesday at 82 years old.
Former Senator Harry M. Reid, the Democrat who went from child poverty in the rural Nevada desert to the heights of power in Washington, where played a decisive role as Senate Majority Leader in passing the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, died Tuesday in Henderson, Nevada.
The death of the former Nevada Democratic senator was announced by political reporter Jon Ralston, who called Reid “probably the most important elected official in Nevada history.”
Harry Reid served as leader of most of 2006 to 2014 before retiring from the policy at 2017 as one of the most influential and powerful Democratic leaders to ever serve in Washington.
Reid had been treated for cancer of pancreas, which was diagnosed in 2018, but lived to see the Las Vegas airport change its name in his honor, to early this month.
Landra Reid said her husband died peacefully this afternoon, surrounded by his family. “We are very proud of the legacy he leaves both on the national stage and in his beloved Nevada.”
His death was also confirmed by Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak , who stated: “The Senator Harry Reid was a mentor, a father figure and someone I always looked up to. There will never be another leader like him. Kathy and I send our condolences to Landra and the Reid family. We will deeply miss Senator Reid, but the mark he left on our state will last forever. ”
Senator Chuck Schumer , Democrat of New York and leader of the majority in the Senate, also mourned the death of Reid:
Reid was elected State Assemblyman, Lieutenant Governor, and Chairman of the Gaming Commission. In 1986, Nevada residents sent him to Washington as a member of the United States Senate.
As Senate Democratic leader, Reid championed the $ Recovery Act’s economic stimulus program $ 1 billion to mitigate the impact of the Great Recession in 2009 and fought to enact the landmark Affordable Care Act of 2013, two bills of the Barack Obama administration that he considered among his greatest legislative achievements.