Harry Reid, former Senate Majority Leader, passed away at 82 on Tuesday.
The politician served in Congress from 1983. He retired in 2017, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer the next year, and announced that his disease was in remission in 2019, FOX News reported.
Reid, a Democrat, became the Senate majority leader from 2007 to 2015 as he was representing Nevada. Among the greatest things he was known for was his use of the “nuclear option” in 2013 which led the charge to conclude the executive branch and judicial nominees’ filibuster.
His duty for the said option does not come without irony.
In December of 1987, the freshman senator who was also a Nevada Democrat saw himself before the Senate Rules Committee. At that time, potential rules changes were on the subject, to stop some prerogatives of limitless debate.
“We are not trying to turn the Senate into another House of Representatives,” the senator said. “I’ve developed a great respect, even an awe, for the rules and procedures of the Senate.”
“The rules are a carefully-crafted compromise designed to protect the right of a majority to prevail while preserving the right of a minority to prolong debate,” said Reid,” he added.
His trach in the elected office started in 1969 when he broke into the elected seat and served in the Nevada Assembly until 1971.
Reid then became Lieutenant Governor of Nevada from 1971 to 1975 and in 1982, he was elected for a seat at Nevada’s first district in the U.S. House of Representatives.
He gained his first senatorial position in 1987.
Reid became consistent in his stand on the Roe v. Wade issue, which he believed should be reversed. He also helped push for federal protection of about 5.1 million acres of Nevada land.
“Harry Reid was one of the most amazing individuals I’ve ever met,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, said through a statement. “He was my leader, my mentor, one of my dearest friends.”
