--- title: Harry Reid Endorses Hillary Clinton description: Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid backed Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. canonical: https://time.com/4235959/harry-reid-endorses-hillary-clinton/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-24T18:27:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:20:40.482Z article:section: Politics og:title: Harry Reid Endorses Hillary Clinton og:description: He backed Obama in 2008. og:url: https://time.com/4235959/harry-reid-endorses-hillary-clinton/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6d97dc9a938eaab1/69887f01196cf446a403a7b1/gettyimages-501469724.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Senate Lawmakers Address The Media After Their Weekly Policy Luncheons og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Harry Reid Endorses Hillary Clinton twitter:description: He backed Obama in 2008. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6d97dc9a938eaab1/69887f01196cf446a403a7b1/gettyimages-501469724.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Harry Reid Endorses Hillary Clinton by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Feb 24, 2016 6:27 PM UTC  Harry Reid talks to reporters following the weekly Democratic policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol December 15, 2015 in Washington, DC. Harry Reid talks to reporters following the weekly Democratic policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol December 15, 2015 in Washington, DC.Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Feb 24, 2016 6:27 PM UTC Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid backed Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, becoming the [39th and highest-ranking endorsement](http://www.rollcall.com/endorsementtracker/) from a sitting Democratic Senator. [In an interview with CNN](http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/24/politics/hillary-clinton-harry-reid-endorsement/index.html), the Nevada Senator called for Democrats to consolidate support behind the former Secretary of State, arguing she would be better for the middle class than rival Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. “I think that my work with her over the years has been something that I have looked upon with awe. She was the first lady. She started the trend toward looking to do something about health care. She understood the issue well, she was the front on the health care during that administration,” he told CNN. Reid’s endorsement came four days after Clinton [won a hard-fought race](http://time.com/4231582/nevada-democratic-primary-caucus-results-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders/) in his home state’s caucuses, and eight years after [he endorsed Barack Obama](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/reid-formally-endorses-obama/) over Clinton in the 2008 primary. According to CNN, Reid called Sanders to tell him about the endorsement beforehand. Overall, Clinton has the support of 192 Democratic members of Congress, while Sanders has only three endorsements from Representatives and none from his fellow Senators, according to [an endorsement tracker from Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call](http://www.rollcall.com/endorsementtracker/). One Democratic Representative also endorsed former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who has since dropped out. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4235959/harry-reid-endorses-hillary-clinton/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4235959/harry-reid-endorses-hillary-clinton/"},"headline":"Harry Reid Endorses Hillary Clinton","datePublished":"2016-02-24T18:27:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:20:40.482Z","description":"Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid backed Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.","url":"https://time.com/4235959/harry-reid-endorses-hillary-clinton/","keywords":["Hillary Clinton","2016 Election topic","Harry Reid","Bernie Sanders"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6d97dc9a938eaab1/69887f01196cf446a403a7b1/gettyimages-501469724.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6d97dc9a938eaab1/69887f01196cf446a403a7b1/gettyimages-501469724.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Senate Lawmakers Address The Media After Their Weekly Policy Luncheons","caption":"Senate Lawmakers Address The Media After Their Weekly Policy Luncheons","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","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":"https://time.com/4235959/harry-reid-endorses-hillary-clinton/","name":"Harry Reid Endorses Hillary Clinton"}}]}] ```