Local News

Actions

Harry Reid changed the US political landscape

Harry Reid
Posted at 7:47 AM, Jan 08, 2022
and last updated 2022-01-08 11:55:37-05

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Nevada, the U.S., and the world lost a political titan in Nevada's longest-serving Senator and Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom was deeply affected by his death.

"If you asked around the world to name one person from Nevada, that person would be Harry Reid," he said. "He's that well known, and that well respected."

RELATED: Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones remembers Sen. Harry Reid

The country's political landscape would look very different without Reid's statesmanship.

Arguably the biggest example, Congressman Steven Horsford said, was Reid ushering President Obama's signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act, through congress.

"31 million people have healthcare under the Affordable Care Act because of the mastery of Senator Harry Reid's ability to get a bill like that through the United States Senate," Horsford said. "No one could have done it but Senator Harry Reid."

MORE LIKE THIS:

Reid also moved to shift immigration law and won massive Latino support in Nevada by championing the DREAM Act allowing young undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizenship.

"It's all because of his vision to ensure that we make room for everyone," said County Commissioner William McCurdy II. "He understood that the Democratic Party was a big party. It's a big tent."

Arguably Reid's biggest, but most unmeasurable achievement, lies with the people who learned from Reid.

The senator shepherded leaders from all backgrounds, races, genders, ethnicities, whom he inspired to become public servants shifting the demographics of power in Nevada and the U.S.

"He brought more people of color into politics as part of his team," Segerblom said. "It really recreated the Democratic Party and created a united tent."