Battered and bruised both physically and politically, Democrat Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid announced he will not seek reelection to the Senate next year, ending speculation about the longtime leader’s future.
Serving as his party’s leader in the Senate for a decade, Reid presided over the Democrat take-over of the Senate during the Bush administration and was President Obama’s go-to man to help push through his agenda in Congress.
One of the oldest members of the upper chamber at 75, the Republican Party’s challenge to Reid in next year’s election was already expected to be massive given his narrow reelection victory in 2010.
Reid explained during his announcement that the exercise accident in January that left him injured in the eye and face did not factor into his decision and that he has been mulling his retirement ‘for months’.
Reid commented, “I want to be able to go out at the top of my game,” detailing the inordinate power he still wields despite being demoted by voters in last year’s election from Senate Leader to Minority Leader.
But the political alignment in the 2016 election does not bode well for the possibility of his ascending back to the Senate throne. And the open seat created by his departure may be decided in the Republican primary with a number of key state leaders already lining up for the job.
