Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid: ‘Iowa Has Forfeited Its Chance to Be Number One’

Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said that Iowa should no longer be the first state to hold voting in the presidential primary process. The Nevada Democrat was responding to the recent debacle during the Iowa Caucus where results were seriously delayed.

“Iowa has forfeited its chance to be number one. I don’t think that’ll happen anymore,” Reid said in an interview with Vice.

“Since the debacle in Iowa, [pundits] have been talking about, Nevada should be the first state. Why? Because we’re a state that’s heavily diverse,” Reid said.

“It’s really a state that represents what the country is all about. So I think that Iowa really was an embarrassment to everybody.”

Nevada’s primary will take place on 22 February and it seems Reid is angling for his home state to become the first in the nation. There has long been criticism of letting Iowa go first and set the agenda for the race. The events this year will encourage others like Reid to make the same point.

Reid also offered praise for former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, though he won’t be competing in the Nevada primary.

“You have to recognize, the man — he really was a good mayor of a huge, huge city, the largest city in America. I like him, I’ve always liked him. Nobody’s done more on guns and climate than he has. No one.”