EDITORIAL: Reid sits atop the pantheon of Nevada political greats

Harry Reid, who died on Tuesday at age 82, may have been the most tenacious, unrelenting political figure in Nevada history. He was certainly the most powerful.

Mr. Reid’s backstory is well-known: Born to humble circumstances in 1939 in the small mining community of Searchlight about 60 miles south of Las Vegas, Mr. Reid embarked upon a political career in the late 1960s that spanned almost 50 years and culminated in his becoming majority leader of the U.S. Senate, the highest position ever attained by a Silver State politician.

Along the way, Mr. Reid, a Democrat, did a stint in the Nevada Assembly, served as lieutenant governor, was appointed chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission and was twice elected to the U.S. House before winning election to the Senate in 1986. Mr. Reid became a fixture in the upper chamber, ascending to the party leadership and national recognition. He retired in 2017 as the state’s the longest-serving member of Congress.

Mr. Reid’s grandfatherly, taciturn demeanor disguised the shrewd, blunt political instincts that pushed him to the top of the game. He was the architect of an impressive political machinery in Clark County that on more than one occasion helped him overcome the strong opposition he faced in conservative rural areas come election time. He won his 1998 Senate race by just 401 votes.

Mr. Reid was a survivor and a tireless fighter for his home state, using his increasing power in the Senate to starve the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage project of funding, essentially killing the nuke dump. He shielded Nevada’s mining industry from increasing calls for higher federal taxes. He offered no apologies for using his clout to direct tax dollars back to the Silver State.

As his career progressed and he gained national notoriety, Mr. Reid became an increasingly polarizing figure in these increasingly partisan times. He alienated Republicans when he indelicately called President George W. Bush a “liar” and later made an unsubstantiated allegation about GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney not paying taxes. Mr. Reid could play political hardball even in the spotlight.

In 2013, as majority leader, Mr. Reid broke with long-standing tradition and pushed the abolition of the filibuster for federal judges in order to elevate more of then-President Barack Obama’s nominees to the bench. The move backfired when Republicans exploited the change three years later under Donald Trump.

Mr. Reid underwent surgery in 2018 for pancreatic cancer. He was unable to attend a ceremony two weeks ago at which McCarran International Airport was renamed in his honor.

Harry Reid sits atop the pantheon of Nevada’s political greats. He had no peer — and it’s doubtful he ever will.