Harry Reid Endorses Schumer for Minority Leader

Image by Getty Images

By JTA March 27, 2015

Image by Getty Images

(JTA) — Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) endorsed Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) to succeed him as minority leader. Reid, who announced Friday he would not seek reelection to the Senate, made the endorsement in an interview Friday with the Washington Post.

“I think Schumer should be able to succeed me,” Reid told the Post.

Schumer, the senior New York senator and the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, is a leading pro-Israel lawmaker and is Jewish. Reid predicted that Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), the current minority whip, would stand down in favor of Schumer. Reid and Durbin spoke by phone Friday morning, the Post reported.

Reid, who suffered a serious accident while exercising earlier this year, told the New York Times that his decision to retire was unconnected to the accident, nor to his demotion to minority leader following the loss of the Senate majority by the Democrats in midterm elections.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO