“There were a number of bright spots on Election Day, but I have to say without any question the one for us was in Nevada. We scored victories every place.”
“The Koch brothers came to the state, publicly said: ‘Reid has been hard on us and we’re going to teach him a lesson.’ I wasn’t born yesterday. They really didn’t frighten me. In spite of all their untold wealth, they could not affect what we had built up over the years in Nevada.”
“The victories we saw last week speak volumes about the talent of the candidates and the people working to make sure these victories happen.”
Washington, D.C. – Nevada Senator Harry Reid spoke on the Senate floor today about the recent victories in Nevada and the leaders who will be coming to Congress:
There were a number of bright spots on Election Day, but I have to say without any question the one for us was in Nevada. We scored victories every place.
The Koch brothers came to the state, publicly said: “Reid has been hard on us and we’re going to teach him a lesson.” I wasn’t born yesterday. They really didn’t frighten me. In spite of all their untold wealth, they could not affect what we had built up over the years in Nevada. We carried the state by about 30,000 votes for Hillary Clinton, which maybe in California doesn’t sound like a lot, but in South Carolina and Nevada, it’s a lot of votes, 30,000 votes.
The Senate seat to replace me, we won by a large margin. We picked up two Democratic House seats. Out of the six Democratic House seats that were picked up in this past election, a third of them came from Nevada.
We turned the Legislature into a majority. The State Senate in Nevada only has 21 members. It was 11-10 Republican. It’s now 11-10 Democratic. But to make it even better, shortly after the election, a Republican state senator switched to become an Independent – like Bernie Sanders, like Angus King – and is caucusing with the Democrats. So there is a two-vote majority there.
Election Day was really a good day for Nevada. We rejected the divisive vision of America that some had, but we also enacted some important reforms.
In Nevada, the wild west, NRA members galore, we voted to have background checks. When I went to the state legislature a long time ago, in 1969, as a young assemblyman, I introduced legislation to have a three-day waiting period before you could buy a gun. And that’s been the law in the state of Nevada. In most of rural Nevada they eliminated that. But I started being concerned about this a long time ago.
And now in Nevada, we’re going to have background checks for people purchasing guns. That’s good. And the National Rifle association has spent millions of dollars trying to stop that. But we care more about keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people than catering to these special interests.
I mentioned the NRA. Listen, the National Rifle Association used to be a different organization. After the Columbine horror in Colorado, they came out and said we should do something for background checks. They’ve changed.
Members of the NRA in Nevada, they understand that. They are like NRA members all over the country. The majority of NRA members believe there should be background checks. That you shouldn’t be able to be a criminal and buy a gun.
In Nevada, we also elected the first Latina senator in the history of the country in Catherine Cortez Masto. We’re a diverse state. I’m happy that our elected leaders that we brought back here certainly represent that. I’ve talked about Catherine Cortez Masto. She is going to be a wonderful senator.
I’m so proud of her. I have known her family for years. I have admiration for her accomplishments as a prosecutor, as attorney general of the state. The Nevada seat was a Koch brothers prize, but they came in second.
We also elected Ruben Kihuen – a fine man, an immigrant – to the House of Representatives. He will do a good job, this young man. I have so much admiration for him.
His mom and dad, immigrants themselves, see their son is now going to be a member of Congress. That’s pretty dramatic. They came to the United States wanting to live the American Dream. That’s what they have done.
Serving with Ruben and Catherine in the Congress is a woman by the name of Jacky Rosen. Jacky has zero experience in politics. She ran for a very competitive seat. It’s a seat that Congressman Heck held for three terms. She didn’t have a long resume, other than a wonderful person, a great family and was involved in community activities. She was president of her synagogue. She proved to be a tremendously talented candidate, and she will be good here in Washington as a member of Congress.
Dina Titus, long-time member of Congress, is returning to the House for a fourth term. She knows Nevada inside and out. She was a long-time member of the state Legislature and a professor at UNLV.
So I’m grateful that these good people that are now going to be members of the Congress of the United States. Catherine, Ruben, Jacky and Dina will do great things for Nevada and the country.
For our leadership in the State Senate, we have an African American legislator leading the way. He’s the majority leader. A wonderful young man, so talented, well-educated, Ph.D., law degree, he’s got it all. Aaron Ford.
And Jason Frierson, he is going to be leading the assembly as the speaker. Just a good person, a good guy with an accomplished record in the assembly.
You know, there has been some talk about the “Reid Machine.” Of course, the machine is leaving Washington in a few weeks, but it’s not about me. It’s about our state. It’s about the progress we have made over the years. The victories we saw last week speak volumes about the talent of the candidates and the people working to make sure these victories happen.
Most of the work done in the state was by volunteers. Thousands of people, thousands of people on the streets two weeks before the election. On one Saturday, 70,000 doors were knocked on. In the small state of Nevada – 70,000. We all know, having done door-to-door stuff ourselves, not 70,000 people were home, but thousands and thousands of people were reached through that process.
Our state has a crop of incredibly talented leaders to stand up to a Trump administration and hold Republicans accountable. And our new leaders are going to fight for the issues that are important to the people of the state of Nevada.
Like issues dealing with immigrants. My father-in-law was an immigrant to the United States from Russia; grandmother from England. So we’re going to do everything we can to make sure that people understand the importance of immigration.
And they asked me a couple of days ago, the Republicans want to revive Yucca Mountain. I know you and conservatives are concerned about money. So if you want to revive Yucca Mountain, bring a great big checkbook because it’s going to cost to revive that not millions of dollars, billions of dollars. Billions.
There’s nothing there. All the equipment has been junked, ground up. It’s where they sell up junk, metals. Gone. What I say is if the Republicans want to waste money on that, let them do it. Let them do it. Because it will never go there. It doesn’t meet the environmental standards of anyplace, let alone our country. Let them try to revive it. But make sure you’ve got a lot of money, I say to my Republican friends.
We’re going to do everything together this next few weeks, and certainly when I’m gone, the new congressional delegation will do everything we can to protect clean energy. We have really done a lot of work in Nevada with wind and solar and geothermal. We need to continue that.
In Nevada, 87 percent of the state of Nevada is owned by the federal government. That land is not mine. That land is not Nevada land. It is your land. It is public lands. You have a right to enjoy those beautiful mountains that we have as well as anybody. We have 32 mountains over 11,000 feet high. Those are your mountains just like they are mine. So for your children, your grandchildren, don’t let them mess with public lands.
But I close by saying I’m very proud of what happened in the state of Nevada last Tuesday.
