Harry Reid
U.S. Senator
Democrat, Nevada
- Date of Birth: December 2, 1939
- Birthplace: Searchlight, Nev.
- First Elected: 1986
Four-term Sen. Harry Reid became the Senate majority leader in 2007, when the Democrats took the reigns of Congress. Reid hails from Searchlight, Nev., a small mining town an hour outside of Las Vegas. As a teenager, he would hitchhike 40 miles to the nearest high school. There, he met his wife Landra, whom he married in 1959. The couple has five children and 16 grandchildren. Reid graduated from the University of Utah then moved to Washington, D.C. to attend law school at George Washington University. He became Nevada's youngest lieutenant governor in 1970 at the age of 30 and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives 12 years later. He was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986. As the top Democrat in the Senate, Reid serves as the spokesman for Democratic opinions on congressional issues and is responsible for calling legislation to the floor and advising his party of the daily legislative program. Reid favors expanding access to healthcare and oversaw the Senate's passage of the healthcare reform bill with a 60-39 vote in December 2009. Reid also led the Senate to pass the historic stimulus bill in 2009 during Obama's early days as president. When it comes to other key issues, the senator from Nevada tends to be slightly moderate. He voted for a ban on late-term abortions and opposed gun-control legislation. Reid faces a tough re-election battle in November against tea party favorite Sharron Angle in what is expected to be a high profile and expensive race.
Campaign Fundraising
2005 - Present| Top 5 Organizations | PACs | Individuals | Total |
| MGM Resorts International | $10,000 | $184,850 | $194,850 |
| ActBlue | $0 | $165,500 | $165,500 |
| Weitz & Luxenberg | $0 | $112,850 | $112,850 |
| Simmons Cooper LLC | $0 | $105,200 | $105,200 |
| Harrah's Entertainment | $15,000 | $68,100 | $83,100 |
| Top 5 Industries | PACs | Individuals | Total |
| Lawyers & Law Firms | $244,900 | $2,888,944 | $3,133,844 |
| Securities & Investment | $102,600 | $850,198 | $952,798 |
| Lobbyists | $17,684 | $728,338 | $746,022 |
| Retired | $0 | $659,909 | $659,909 |
| Real Estate | $75,476 | $501,794 | $577,270 |
Harry Reid in the News
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Senate Democrats: Apply Insider Trading Rules to Top Federal Officials
February 02, 2012
Dems agree to expand insider trading bill to include some executive branch, White House employees -
Reid Postpones Vote on Anti-Piracy Bill
January 20, 2012
Harry Reid said he was postponing a test vote set for Tuesday in light of online protests. - Heartless Democrats choose cars over disaster relief Liberals are supposed to be the big-hearted ones and conservatives cold and calculating. Democrats are supposed to want to help the poor while Republicans want to hurt granny. Not today. Today it is Democrats who chose hybrid cars over disaster…
- Senate approves stopgap spending bill WASHINGTON - A partisan fight over federal disaster assistance ended abruptly Monday when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced the Federal Emergency Management Agency has enough cash to make it to the end of the fiscal year Friday. The Senate…
- Senate Passes Stopgap Spending Bill to Avert Shutdown WASHINGTON -- The Senate voted Monday night to send a temporary spending bill to the House to avoid a government shutdown, Democrats and Republicans appeared to have reached a final-hour resolution to an impasse over disaster aid. The vote in the Senate was 79 to 12 to fund the government through Nov. 18, giving the two sides more time to haggle over long-term spending levels. The Senate also approved an even shorter-term spending bill --…
