Harry Reid put politics aside in friendship with Republican senator

John Ensign came wrong 401 votes of ending Harry Reid’s vocation successful the U.S. Senate successful 1998 aft a bitter campaign.

But aft Ensign won Nevada’s different Senate spot 2 years later, the 2 didn’t fto authorities get successful the mode of their friendship.

They were opposites politically, but that’s wherever the friction ended. Despite their differences, the 2 were bully friends who had an statement to ne'er knock each different publically oregon privately, a well-known “non-aggression pact” that confounded Democrats and Republicans.

“So we allowed each different to person those differences without doing idiosyncratic attacks connected each other,” Ensign said Wednesday.

Reid, the astir almighty Nevadan to ever clasp bureau successful Washington D.C., died Tuesday aft a agelong conflict with pancreatic cancer. He was 82.

When Ensign resigned from bureau aft an extramarital matter successful 2011, the 2 stayed successful touch. Reid would telephone his erstwhile workfellow and archer him helium missed him.

The cardinal to Ensign and Reid keeping their narration steadfast was having their staffs get on and enactment together, Ensign said. The 2 lawmakers held Christmas parties with some staffs, and Reid and Ensign enjoyed each different personally.

“And I deliberation that’s a batch of what’s missing successful Washington today, is being capable to disagree, fundamentally, vehemently disagree connected philosophical issues, but yet not get personal,” helium said.

People would often inquire Ensign however helium could basal Reid, who had made enemies passim his career, particularly among Republicans.

Ensign told them Reid was a bully person. A bully father. A bully husband. They conscionable disagreed politically.

And if Reid was moving connected an issue, helium knew however to get it done, Ensign said.

“He knew the parliamentary rules of the Senate amended than anybody, and helium utilized them to his advantage,” helium said.

An advisor to Democrats

Reid’s constrictive triumph implicit Ensign successful 1998 changed things for him backmost successful Nevada, recalled erstwhile U.S. Sen. Richard Bryan, who served alongside Reid successful the Assembly and successful Washington.

“Reid had a near-death acquisition moving against John Ensign, and helium took that to heart, and helium decided that helium would, successful effect, found the mechanics for enactment power and however elections could beryllium won,” Bryan said.

It was a process for Reid to telephone the shots, and it was highly effective, said Bryan, a longtime person of Reid’s.

“That instrumentality continues to relation today, and basically, it was a instauration of Harry Reid,” helium said.

Ensign said Nevada Democrats beryllium Reid for his enactment rebuilding their party. But that enactment was thrown into disarray earlier this year, when a slate of progressives took implicit the authorities party, prompting the Reid-aligned unit to quit and later signifier a caller group — Nevada Democratic Victory — to guarantee enactment concern got accomplished.

One of the Democrats to payment from the governmental operation Reid built was Gov. Steve Sisolak, who met Reid arsenic a assemblage regent 20 years ago. Through the years, they became person friends.

Sisolak said Reid was idiosyncratic helium went to for proposal erstwhile helium needed help. When Reid had idiosyncratic connected the phone, they were the astir important happening helium was dealing with, adjacent erstwhile helium was carrying the value of starring the Democratic Party successful the U.S. Senate, Sisolak said.

The politician said helium doesn’t cognize who is going to instrumentality connected Reid’s relation of advisor to Nevada Democrats.

“Somebody’s going to travel successful his footsteps, but cipher tin capable those shoes,” helium said.

Funny, but dry

Bryan said Reid had a large consciousness of wit that galore ne'er saw.

“And we did things peculiarly successful the 1969 Legislature erstwhile we were 2 young guys going up there, and astir apt whitethorn person been a small obnoxious,” Bryan said. “We were the quintessential young guys that were successful a hurry, but we had a batch of fun.”

Bryan said Reid was not peculiarly charismatic, a large orator oregon a instrumentality of retail politics. But helium was a laser-focused strategist who worked harder than anyone other to scope his objectives, the erstwhile legislator said.

In fact, Reid himself credited hard enactment for his governmental occurrence erstwhile helium offered his farewell code connected the Senate level successful December 2016: “I didn’t marque it successful beingness due to the fact that of my diversion prowess,” said Reid, a erstwhile amateur boxer, successful the speech. “I didn’t marque it due to the fact that of my bully looks. I didn’t marque it due to the fact that I’m a genius. I made it due to the fact that I worked hard, and I archer everyone, immoderate you effort to do, marque definite you’re going to enactment arsenic hard arsenic you tin astatine trying to bash what you privation to do. And I judge that’s a acquisition for everyone.”

Inspiring migrant advocacy

It was Reid’s enactment connected migration betterment that inspired Astrid Silva to signifier Dream Big Nevada, an enactment dedicated to advocating for migrant rights.

In 2009, Silva wrote Reid a missive expressing the symptom she felt for not being capable beryllium with her grandma astatine the extremity of her beingness due to the fact that she was undocumented. Reid soon became an state of Silva’s.

“He ever believed and supported that determination could beryllium a way guardant for undocumented families, and I wanted to lend to the enactment that helium was doing,” Silva said.

Reid is the crushed she decided to prosecute her enactment successful advocacy, she said.

“Because helium taught me, adjacent if you’re a mediocre kid from the mediate of the desert, it didn’t substance wherever I was born, it didn’t substance what my ineligible presumption was,” she said.

Reid himself was a mediocre kid from the mediate of the desert. He grew from humble beginnings successful Searchlight to pb the U.S. Senate, wherever helium played a captious relation successful blocking the retention of atomic discarded successful Nevada and passing the Affordable Care Act, commonly known arsenic Obamacare.

The archetypal happening helium taught Silva astir argumentation was it is OK to hole mistakes.

“Because helium told maine that helium had said atrocious things astir immigrants before, and helium didn’t recognize it, and helium was ever upset astir what helium had done successful the past,” she said. “But helium told me, you ever are capable to larn much things and conscionable antithetic radical and grow extracurricular of benignant of your circle.”

In 1993, Reid gave a code denouncing birthright citizenship connected the Senate floor, a code cited years aboriginal by then-President Donald Trump arsenic justification for a partition on the confederate border. He aboriginal called the code his biggest regret successful his career. After his 2010 re-election, Reid credited the Latino assemblage for his victory.

The erstwhile legislator became idiosyncratic Silva could crook to for proposal and encouragement. The sanction of Silva’s enactment adjacent came from the encouragement Reid would springiness her. He’d archer her to imagination big.

Reid genuinely cared astir radical and had a mode of showing it, Silva said. He was thoughtful and remembered the tiny details astir radical erstwhile telling stories. And successful a vocation of nationalist work that spanned decades, helium touched galore lives successful antithetic ways, she said.

“There’s conscionable ne'er going to beryllium different Harry Reid,” Silva said.

Contact Blake Apgar astatine bapgar@reviewjournal.com oregon 702-387-5298. Follow @blakeapgar connected Twitter.