Harry Reid: Senate Majority Leader Who Shepherded the Affordable Care Ac

Harry Reid was an American lawyer and politician who represented Nevada in the U.S. Senate from 1987 to 2017 and served as Senate Majority Leader from 2007 to 2015. Born Harry Mason Reid Jr. on December 2, 1939, in Searchlight, Nevada, he rose from a small mining town to become one of the most powerful Democrats in Washington.

Reid served as Nevada's Lieutenant Governor from 1971 to 1975. As Majority Leader he helped pass the Affordable Care Act, the Dodd-Frank financial reform law and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. In 2013 he invoked the so-called nuclear option, which removed the 60-vote filibuster requirement for most executive and judicial nominations. Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas was named in his honor in 2021.

Reid married Landra Gould in 1959, and they had five children, including Rory Reid, a former Clark County commissioner. While attending law school, he worked as a U.S. Capitol Police officer. In 2007 he launched a Pentagon program to study unidentified flying objects. He died of pancreatic cancer in Henderson, Nevada, on December 28, 2021, at age 82.

Achievements: Lieutenant Governor of Nevada (1971-1975), U.S. Senator (1987-2017), Senate Majority Leader (2007-2015), invoked the so-called nuclear option (2013).

Birth: December 2, 1939 - Searchlight, Nevada.

Profession: Lawyer and politician.

Interesting Facts: He worked as a U.S. Capitol Police officer while attending George Washington University Law School. Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas was named for him in 2021.