The 'Reid Machine' Rolls On
Not only did former top aides of Mr. Reid help engineer crucial Democratic Senate wins in Pennsylvania and Nevada that allowed the party to keep its majority, but alumni of the Reid academy of politics and policy are now holding down top jobs throughout the chamber, the administration and the party apparatus. The Reid Machine, a term embraced with affection by Democrats, is far from shut down.
“Harry Reid’s influence lives on,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, the New York Democrat and majority leader and a bit of a Reid protégé himself. “He had many great staffers who learned so much at his side and now they are having a strong influence on America policy and politics.”
Reid alumni say it is not just happenstance that so many of them have been part of winning tough races or moved into top Senate jobs. At least four are now chiefs of staff to senators and others hold influential party positions, including Kristen Orthman, a former top adviser to Mr. Reid (and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts) who is the communications director for the Democratic National Committee.
They say they learned resilience and more from a man who was often counted out but somehow managed to survive, such as in 2010 when the Tea Party-backed Republican Sharron Angle was supposed to finish him off but came up short. Members of the Reid network say he passed on the toughness and political smarts he accumulated during his rise from poverty in tiny Searchlight, Nev., to real power in Washington. Mr. Reid was a take-no-prisoners politician who never backed down from a fight and instigated more than a few — perhaps a legacy of his days as a boxer.
“He instilled that good offense is good defense, to defend every blade of grass, and to be relentless,” said Rebecca Lambe, Mr. Reid’s longtime right hand in Nevada and political adviser to the campaign of Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, the Democratic incumbent Republicans believed was cooked but who ended up pulling off a win last November. “It doesn’t matter where the ball goes on the field, you defend it. And he always believed in playing the long game.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/24/us/politics/reid-machine.html
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