--- title: Harry Reid Makes Asian Jokes at Las Vegas Asian Chamber of Commerce description: "One problem that I've had today is keeping my Wongs straight." canonical: https://time.com/3159750/harry-reid-asian-jokes/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-22T14:40:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:48:34.489Z article:section: Politics og:title: Harry Reid Makes Asian Jokes at Las Vegas Asian Chamber of Commerce og:description: "One problem that I've had today is keeping my Wongs straight." og:url: https://time.com/3159750/harry-reid-asian-jokes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b1fa6cd919fb4c9/6986a08ccd804dc9f1ccc75a/harry-reid.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3648 og:image:height: 2052 og:image:alt: Reid-Nevada Governor og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Harry Reid Makes Asian Jokes at Las Vegas Asian Chamber of Commerce twitter:description: "One problem that I've had today is keeping my Wongs straight." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b1fa6cd919fb4c9/6986a08ccd804dc9f1ccc75a/harry-reid.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Harry Reid's Joke to Asians: You're Not Smarter Than Everyone Else > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Aug 22, 2014 2:40 PM UTC  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., talks to reporters in his Reno, Nev. office on Monday, Aug. 18, 2014\. He said he doesn't intend to waste his time raising money for Democrat Bob Goodman in an unlikely bid to unseat popular Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval in November. (AP Photo/Scott Sonner) Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., talks to reporters in his Reno, Nev. office on Monday, Aug. 18, 2014\. He said he doesn't intend to waste his time raising money for Democrat Bob Goodman in an unlikely bid to unseat popular Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval in November. (AP Photo/Scott Sonner) Scott Sonner—AP by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Aug 22, 2014 2:40 PM UTC Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid drew laughter from an Asian audience Thursday with a pair of Asian-themed jokes. “I don’t think you’re smarter than anybody else, but you’ve convinced a lot of us you are,” Reid, a Nevada Democrat, told the guffawing crowd at the Las Vegas Asian Chamber of Commerce. Video of the remarks was recorded by the Republican opposition research group American Rising. Later, before walking off stage, Reid quipped: “One problem that I’ve had today is keeping my Wongs straight.” The group decided against backing the Reid-endorsed Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor, Lucy Flores, supporting Republican Mark Hutchison instead, the Las Vegas _Review-Journal_ [reports](http://www.reviewjournal.com/politics/elections/asian-chamber-spurns-reid-endorses-hutchison). “My comments were in extremely poor taste and I apologize,” Reid said in a statement to TIME after publication of this story. “Sometimes I say the wrong thing.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3159750/harry-reid-asian-jokes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3159750/harry-reid-asian-jokes/"},"headline":"Harry Reid's Joke to Asians: You're Not Smarter Than Everyone Else","datePublished":"2014-08-22T14:40:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:48:34.489Z","description":"\"One problem that I've had today is keeping my Wongs straight\"","url":"https://time.com/3159750/harry-reid-asian-jokes/","keywords":["Congress","Harry Reid"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b1fa6cd919fb4c9/6986a08ccd804dc9f1ccc75a/harry-reid.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b1fa6cd919fb4c9/6986a08ccd804dc9f1ccc75a/harry-reid.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Reid-Nevada Governor","caption":"Reid-Nevada Governor","creditText":"Scott Sonner—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3159750/harry-reid-asian-jokes/","name":"Harry Reid's Joke to Asians: You're Not Smarter Than Everyone Else"}}]}] ```