Reid faces GOP edge for first time

Friday, May 15, 1998 | 10:23 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who has served in the Assembly, as lieutenant governor and in the House of Representatives, plans to file today for a third term.

This formally sets off his battle with Republican challenger Rep. John Ensign, who signed his declaration of candidacy earlier this week.

The duel will be expensive. Reid raised more than $1 million in campaign funds last year and spent $433,609. Ensign reported $936,792 in campaign contributions and expenditures of $188,678.

Reid has already started his television campaign in which he talks about water and family values.

This is the first time he's involved in a campaign where the majority of registered voters are Republicans. Latest figures from the secretary of state's office show Nevada has 356,012 Republicans and 353,576 Democrats.

Reid served one term in the 1969 Assembly, was elected in 1970 as lieutenant governor, lost a bid for the U.S. Senate in 1974 to Paul Laxalt by 624 votes and was then defeated when he ran the following year for Las Vegas mayor.

Gov. Mike O'Callaghan named Reid chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission and he practiced law in Las Vegas. He was elected to Congress in 1982 and won re-election the following year.

In 1986, he beat Democrat-turned Republican Jim Santini for the U.S. Senate and won re-election in 1992 defeating Republican Demar Dahl.

He now serves in the U.S. Senate with his longtime friend and former fellow Assemblyman Richard Bryan, also D-Nev. They were named the "Golddust Twins" when they were in the 1969 Legislature.

Reid says he has been battling the proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain since he went to Washington, D.C., and he holds the record for the longest filibuster for a freshman senator when he stymied the project's legislation in 1987.

He took the lead in hammering out a negotiated water settlement on the Carson and Truckee rivers and Reid was credited with getting President Clinton interested in Lake Tahoe, which resulted in a presidential summit. Clinton pledged more money for preserving the lake and told those at the summit, "I am here because I promised Harry Reid months ago I would be here."

Reid's record includes voting to support a bipartisan plan to balance the budget in seven years; against a constitutional amendment to require a balanced federal budget; in favor of campaign finance reform; against exempting small business from the minimum wage increases; and for strengthening the trade embargo against Cuba.

In 1996, he voted to replace the federal welfare system with block grants to the state; to prohibit job discrimination based on sexual orientation; in favor of banning most partial birth abortions; against limiting punitive damages in product liability cases; against a president line item veto authority; and for deregulation of the telecommunications industry.

Also scheduled to file declarations of candidacy today are Republican Aaron Russo running against Kenny Guinn for governor; Rose McKinney James, a Clark County commissioner and a Democrat seeking the office of lieutenant governor; and Jessi Winchester, a Republican, also going for lieutenant governor.