Harry Reid

Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada), is the Senate Majority Leader in the 111th Congress.

He is a member ex officio, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

His politics are centrist within the Democratic party; he is a member of the Moderate Dems Working Group. Nevada interests go beyond party lines for Reid; he works closely with Sen. John Ensign (R-Nevada); they co-host a weekly breakfast for Nevada citizens. Ensign, however, has been tainted by scandal. Neither Senator is in a strong position for the 2010 election.

Healthcare

After the November 2009 House passage of the H.R. 3962 health care bill, the Senate passed a bill that was more difficult to confirm in the House, although it passed in March. Reid's leadership was not to be as strong as that of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

2010 Election

Politico reported that in January 2010, first-term Nevada Representative Dina Titus (D-Nevada) rose in a meeting with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and said

“Reid is done; he’s going to lose” in November, according to three people who were in the room.

Titus denied Tuesday evening that she had singled out Reid, but she acknowledged that she said Democrats would be “f—-ed” if they failed to heed the lessons of Massachusetts, where Republican Scott Brown won Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat last week.

Early career

In 1977 he was appointed Chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission, where for five years he made headlines with his legendary and unrelenting fight to clean up Nevada's gaming industry.

At the age of 30, Harry Reid became the youngest Lieutenant Governor in Nevada history, winning election as Governor Mike O’Callaghan’s running mate in 1970.

Returning to Nevada, he became city attorney of Henderson, from which he was elected to the Nevada State Assembly in 1968, at age 28.

Early life

In high school, he met his mentor, Mike O’Callaghan who would play many roles in his life: teacher, boxing coach, trusted advisor and best friend. Some Nevada businessmen assisted him to go to Utah State University , an act of generosity that Harry Reid would work hard to repay in the coming years.

Graduating in 1961, he worked his way through George Washington University law school as a U.S. Capitol Police officer.