Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said that he did not want to run for re-election in 2010, but he decided to give it another go in order to stick it to his critics.
“One newspaper here is Nevada kept beating up on me, and I said, ’I am not going to let the bastards beat me,’ ” Mr. Reid told CNN in an interview that aired Tuesday. “So I decided to run last time.”
Mr. Reid, who has led Senate Democrats since 2005, announced last week that he will retire in 2016 and also endorsed Sen. Charles E. Schumer of New York to take his place as leader of Senate Democrats.
Mr. Reid’s retirement announcement came after he suffered exercise injuries that forced him to miss the opening of the new Congress, which saw him demoted from his post as Senate majority leader.
The 75-year-old suffered broken bones in his face and broken ribs, as well as a concussion. He has sported sunglasses on Capitol Hill as he recovers from the injuries.
Reflecting on his political career, Mr. Reid told CNN he attributed his rise in the Senate to his work ethic, which he said is unmatched.
“I recognized a long time ago that there’s people who can speak a lot better than I can. There are people better looking than I am,” he told CNN. “There are people smarter then I am, but there is nobody that can work harder than I am.”
Mr. Reid defended his decision to launch attacks on the Senate floor against David and Charles Koch, who run the sprawling Koch Industries and use some of their massive wealth to fund a network of libertarian-leaning conservative organizations. He also defended his decision to accuse Mitt Romney of not paying all of his taxes without any proof ahead of the 2012 presidential election.
“Romney didn’t win, did he?” Mr. Reid said.
He also expressed pride in the success he had steering federal dollars back to his home state.
“When U.S. News and World Report would come out every years with its list of biggest ’porkers,’ I was so upset when I wasn’t in the top three,” he said.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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