--- title: Harry Reid Takes 1-2 Punch From Democrats description: "Sometimes that kind of criticism goes with the territory," Reid said canonical: https://time.com/3457961/harry-reid-democrats/ author: Alex Rogers article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-03T01:40:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:33:58.125Z article:section: Politics og:title: Harry Reid Takes 1-2 Punch From Democrats og:description: "Sometimes that kind of criticism goes with the territory," Reid said og:url: https://time.com/3457961/harry-reid-democrats/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaf846191d70d1ebd/6986a6d0e53aba05d34d4c0f/harry-reid.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4096 og:image:height: 2304 og:image:alt: Senate Majority Leader Democrat Harry Reid attends a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 18, 2014. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Harry Reid Takes 1-2 Punch From Democrats twitter:description: "Sometimes that kind of criticism goes with the territory," Reid said twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaf846191d70d1ebd/6986a6d0e53aba05d34d4c0f/harry-reid.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Democrats Air Dissatisfaction With Majority Leader Harry Reid > 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 [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Oct 3, 2014 1:40 AM UTC  Senate Majority Leader Democrat Harry Reid attends a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 18, 2014. Senate Majority Leader Democrat Harry Reid attends a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 18, 2014.Michael Reynolds—EPA by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Oct 3, 2014 1:40 AM UTC Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid faced blows from within his own party Thursday, amid an election year in which Democrats are struggling to hold the Senate majority. Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) said in a private event last month that “the best thing that could happen” this election cycle would be if Minority Leader Mitch McConnell got “beat” and Reid got “replaced,” potentially by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-Ny.), according to a recording reported by the Washington [_Free Beacon_](http://freebeacon.com/politics/reid-roasted-at-private-democratic-fundraiser/)Thursday. In Georgia, former Sen. Sam Nunn told the Atlanta [_Journal-Constitution_](http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2014/10/02/sam-nunn-condemns-shameful-attack-on-daughter-says-harry-reid-wanted-her-out-of-senate-race/) that his daughter, Democratic Senate candidate Michelle Nunn, isn’t obligated to support Reid, who last year reportedly tried to discourage Michelle Nunn from running. While Senate Majority PAC, the [biggest-spending](http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/summ.php?disp=O) super PAC this cycle and an influential player in Arkansas and Georgia, is run by Reid confidantes, former Reid senior advisor Jim Manley says that Reid won’t take the comments personally. “Everyone’s got to do what they need to do. I don’t expect it to have any impact on the relationships,” he said. “Sometimes that kind of criticism goes with the territory.” Republicans saw the reports as another sign of Reid’s unpopularity, as well as a mark of [discord](http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/210321-dems-chafe-under-reids-rules-as-well) within the Democratic party. National Republican Senatorial Committee strategist Brad Dayspring took to Twitter and called Pryor’s campaign “desperate.” Both Pryor’s campaign against Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Nunn’s campaign against Georgia GOP Senate candidate David Perdue are between three and four points behind, according to [aggregated](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2014/senate/ga/georgia%5Fsenate%5Fperdue%5Fvs%5Fnunn-4040.html) [polling data](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2014/senate/ar/arkansas%5Fsenate%5Fcotton%5Fvs%5Fpryor-4049.html) compiled by Real Clear Politics. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3457961/harry-reid-democrats/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3457961/harry-reid-democrats/"},"headline":"Democrats Air Dissatisfaction With Majority Leader Harry Reid","datePublished":"2014-10-03T01:40:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:33:58.125Z","description":"\"Sometimes that kind of criticism goes with the territory,\" Reid said","url":"https://time.com/3457961/harry-reid-democrats/","keywords":["2014 Election","Congress","Harry Reid"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaf846191d70d1ebd/6986a6d0e53aba05d34d4c0f/harry-reid.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Rogers","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaf846191d70d1ebd/6986a6d0e53aba05d34d4c0f/harry-reid.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Senate Majority Leader Democrat Harry Reid attends a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 18, 2014.","caption":"Senate Majority Leader Democrat Harry Reid attends a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 18, 2014.","creditText":"Michael Reynolds—EPA","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/2014-election/","name":"2014 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3457961/harry-reid-democrats/","name":"Democrats Air Dissatisfaction With Majority Leader Harry Reid"}}]}] ```