A memorial service for former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid took place in Las Vegas on Saturday, and top lawmakers and two presidents were in attendance. Reid died last month at 82.
In his eulogy, former President Barack Obama said Reid was a "true and loyal friend," describing the work they did together in the Senate and the support Reid offered him during his presidential campaign.
"He was one of the first people to encourage me to run for president, believing that, despite my youth, despite my inexperience, despite the fact that I was African American, I could actually win. Which, at the time, made one of us," Obama said.
Similarly, President Joe Biden said Reid, a friend of his for five decades, texted him after he won the 2020 election. "Harry would always have your back. Harry had mine, and he knew I had his," Mr. Biden said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Reid a "towering titan of public service" who never spoke poorly of his colleagues, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the late senator cared about those he was close with "with every fiber of his being."
Reid died after a four-year battle with pancreatic cancer, his family said. He was married to his wife, Landra Gould, for 62 years.
The Nevada lawmaker served in Congress for more than four decades in the House and Senate, rising to become one of the most powerful Democrats in Senate history. He was an avid dealmaker — in 2003, he persuaded Republican Senator Jim Jeffords to switch parties and become a Democrat, giving Democrats the majority in the Senate.
He is known for, among other things, gathering enough votes for the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010.
In 2013, Reid eliminated the use of the filibuster — the requirement for 60 votes in the Senate — to confirm presidential nominees, except for Supreme Court justices. Republicans had been blocking then-President Obama's appointees. Reid told The New York Times he "had no choice" but to invoke what was known as the "nuclear option," but it was a decision that cost Democrats when they lost the Senate majority in 2014. Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell expanded the nuclear option to extend to Supreme Court justices and used it to confirm three conservative justices nominated by President Donald Trump, creating a 6-3 conservative majority on the high court.
After the service, Reid will be moved to Washington, D.C., to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda on January 12.
Biden says Reid "gave me a sense of confidence" after 2020 win
President Joe Biden said he and Harry Reid were not only colleagues on Capitol Hill but friends of five decades.
"Harry would always have your back. Harry had mine, and he knew I had his," Mr. Biden said.
In the runup to the 2020 presidential election, Mr. Biden said he would consult with Reid. And when he won the election, his friend sent him a text.
"He said, 'I'm so proud, Joe. You're my brother. You won,'" Mr. Biden said. "Well, it was a big deal to me that he felt that way. You know Harry never wrote what he didn't believe. It made me feel good. He gave me a sense of confidence."
Reid helped to establish the first national park in Nevada and cared for the state's tribal communities. While in D.C., he helped repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and regulate Wall Street.
"None of it was easy," Mr. Biden said. "Not a lot of it was particularly popular while he was doing it. The thing about Harry — he never gave up."
Mr. Biden said Reid led "by hearing all points of view and finding a common ground."
"May this be his legacy. Call on each of us to be our best. Speak truth from the heart. Take up the remaining rounds of Harry Reid's good fight for the America we all love," Mr. Biden said. "What a gift. I mean this from the bottom of my heart — what a gift."
"Harry was a true and loyal friend": Former President Obama eulogizes Reid
Former President Barack Obama joked that he was unsure if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's statement that Harry Reid never said a bad word about anyone was true. But he said the late senator was always agreeable to working with others.
Obama described the first meeting he had with Reid when he was elected to the Senate in 2005.
"There wasn't a lot of small talk. In fact, there wasn't a lot of talk at all," Obama said. "Half the time his voice was so soft, I could barely hear what he was saying."
After the conversation, Obama said, Senator Dick Durbin asked how it went.
"I said, 'I don't know. The whole conversation lasted maybe 10 minutes. He did not seem particularly pleased with my taking up his time,'" Obama said. "'Don't worry,' Dick said. 'If Harry didn't like you it would've only lasted five minutes.' That was Harry."
The former president also recalled that Reid told him that, even though Reid wasn't an athlete,he could take a punch and he never gave up.
"That same dogged determination marked Harry's career," he said, highlighting the late politician's failed campaigns before he finally made it to the Senate. "But Harry did not give up."
"So yes, being tough, being a fighter, was one of Harry's singular characteristics," Obama said.
The former president said Reid knew how to listen and learn, and commended him on having the ability to change his opinion on certain issues.
Obama also discussed his signature piece of legislation,the Affordable Care Act, saying it would not have passed without Reid's hard work. "Harry refused to give up, applying pressure like only he could," Obama said.
"For all of Harry's toughness - all of his hard-nosed views about politics - Harry loved his family, loved his staff," he said. "Harry was a true and loyal friend."
"During my time in the Senate, he was more generous to me than I had any right to expect," Obama said. "He was one of the first people to encourage me to run for president, believing that, despite my youth, despite my inexperience, despite the fact that I was African American, I could actually win. Which, at the time, made one of us."
He said Reid fought by his side during his campaign and throughout his presidency. "It's a debt to him that I could never fully repay," Obama said.
The two men occasionally spoke on the phone after they both left office, Obama said.
"The whole conversation would last about five minutes, but in those five minutes, he'd communicate more than some folks do in a couple of hours," Obama said. "That's who Harry was - a man who knew what was important and didn't believe in dwelling on what wasn't."
Obama cited a former colleague of Reid's who said the senator didn't say goodbye. But, the former president said, those gathered on Saturday needed to say it to him.
"Goodbye, Harry. Thank you for everything. Nevada has never had a greater champion. The Senate and the country benefited from your extraordinary leadership, and I could not have asked for a better, truer friend. I sure did love you back."
Pelosi calls Harry Reid a "towering titan of public service"
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who first met Harry Reid in 1985 when he was a representative and running for Senate, called him a "towering titan of public service."
"His modesty made him, you might say, unique in politics," she said. "But his humility was rooted in his strong values from a humble childhood, rising from Searchlight to the spotlight."
Pelosi said although he would often abruptly end their phone calls — as he famously did with many — she never heard him say an unkind word about his colleagues on either side of the aisle.
"As Senate leader, few could rival Harry's understanding of his senators — their states, their needs, their ambitions," she said.
Schumer says Reid cared about his friends with "every fiber of his being"
In a speech Saturday afternoon, Senator Chuck Schumer spoke about Harry Reid, who he described as a good friend and mentor. He said Saturday that the late senator had a "truly honest and original character."
Schumer said Reid once pulled him into a small bathroom, handed him $400 in cash and said: "'You know… you've been working hard and doing a lot of the right things to be the Democratic leader, but you need to dress better. Please buy some better shoes.'"
When Schumer asked him about it later, he said he'd pulled him aside because he didn't want to embarrass him in front of the others. "That was Harry to a T," Schumer said.
The Senate Majority Leader added that if you were a friend of Harry Reid's "then he cared about you with every fiber of his being."
"So Harry, in short, was one of the most incredible individuals I've ever met — the sort of person you come across only a handful of times in your entire life," Schumer said.
Josh Reid said his father encouraged his grandchildren to take risks in life
Harry Reid's son Josh Reid spoke about his sons, Liam and Harry, and their relationship with their grandfather.
He said his son Harry decided to take up acting, and when he told his grandfather about his decision, the late senator said: "'It's better to take risks in trying to pursue what you want in life than to settle for a life without meaning.'"
"Just like he did with me, my dad always made sure that Liam and Harry knew that he loved them and that he was proud of them," Josh Reid said.
Brandon Flowers performs The Killers' "Be Still"
The Reid family asked Brandon Flowers to perform at the Saturday service because, according to Harry Reid's son Leif, his father asked to listen to The Killers the day before he died. He and his family listened together.
"I want everyone to know that was the last musical request he made," Leif Reid said.
Flowers sang "Be Still" on Saturday.
Key Reid describes the love his father showed his family, staff and country
Key Reid, one of the late senator's four sons, said his father led by example.
"My father taught me to treat everybody equally, and not based on race or social status," he said, citing his father's willingness to help others in need.
Key Reid said he and his father would play basketball together, and his father never went easy on him. "Whenever I got close, he fouled me really hard."
"My father was my best friend," he said. "He knew when to write, when to call, when to reach out. His example was one of love."
Key Reid said his father showed this kind of love to his children, his wife, his grandchildren, his colleagues and staff, his friends and his country.
Reid's daughter delivers emotional speech
Lana Reid talked about some of her favorite "little moments" with her father. She said he would take her and her brothers out for ice cream and never tired of playing with them when he got home from work.
"Nobody loved me the way my dad loved me. He was a wonderful father who loved me unconditionally," she said. "And he always made my mom, me and my brothers his priority. I will miss him greatly. I will love him forever. And I am grateful that families are forever."
At one point, she recalled, her mother and father moved in with her and her family. He had to navigate through Legos and a puppet set before his security detail whisked him off to work.
"He was pulled in so many different directions, but when he was home, he was just Poppy," she said.