Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-.Nev., announced Friday in a YouTube video he will retire from the Senate at the end of his term. The former majority leader lost his majority in a historic midterm defeat in 2014.
Appearing with bruises on his face from a recent at-home exercising accident, Reid said the injury has caused him and his family to have a “little down-time,” giving him time to think.
“We’ve got to be more concerned about the country, the Senate, the state of Nevada than us. And as a result of that, I’m not going to run for reelection,” the senator said in the video. “My friend, Senator McConnell, don’t be too elated. I’m going to be here for twenty-two months.”
Though Reid has managed to survive reelection, he only won by a solid margin once. In 2016, the race began as a Toss-Up on PPD’s 2016 Senate Elections Map, but if Gov. Brian Sandoval chose to run against Reid the minority leader would have fallen to the decided underdog.