Biden, Obama honor former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at Las Vegas memorial
LAS VEGAS – President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama and other prominent Democrats will pay tribute to former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Saturday at a memorial service in Nevada, his home state.
Reid, a lion of the Senate who was long considered one of the most powerful Democrats in Washington, died late last month at the age of 82 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
Biden,who served alongside Reid in the upper chamber for 22 years and later worked with him as vice president, is slated to deliver remarks at the service.
“During the two decades we served together in the United States Senate, and the eight years we worked together while I served as vice president, Harry met the marker for what I’ve always believed is the most important thing by which you can measure a person – their action and their word,” Biden said in a statement following Reid’s passing.
Obama is also expected to deliver Reid’s eulogy. The pair worked together to pass Obama’s signature health care law, the Affordable Care Act, in 2010 while Reid served as majority leader. Reid was the longest serving senator in Nevada’s history and presided over the upper chamber as majority leader from 2007 to 2015.
“We are honored to have such a distinguished group paying tribute to Harry’s life and accomplishments,” Landra Reid, the late senator’s wife, said in a statement. “These are not only some of the most consequential leaders of our time – they are also some of Harry’s best friends.”
‘Tough-as-nails strong’: Tributes pour in for Harry Reid, former U.S. senator, after his death
More: Former US Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, former Democratic majority leader, dies at 82
‘When he was home, he was just Poppy’
Lana Reid Barringer, Reid’s daughter, remembered her father as a family man who always found time for his children and grandchildren no matter what was going on in Washington.
Contributing: Associated Press