In pictures: Former US Sen. and Democratic leader Harry Reid

Reid was born December 2, 1939, in Searchlight, Nevada, a small town about 60 miles south of Las Vegas. “My humble beginnings,” he wrote in this picture he posted to Instagram in 2016. Reid’s father, Harry Reid Sr., was a miner.

From Harry Reid/Instagram

Reid graduated from Utah State University and went on to study law at George Washington University in Washington, DC. “College wasn’t cheap when I was in school. But it’s become completely unaffordable now,” he wrote on this 2014 Instagram post.

From Harry Reid/Instagram

In his younger days, Reid was also a middleweight amateur boxer.

From Harry Reid/Instagram

Reid, seen here in 1992, was first elected to the US Senate in 1987. Before that, he served a couple of terms in the US House, representing Nevada’s 1st District.

Laura Patterson/CQ Roll Call/AP

Reid leans on a stack of campaign finance reform documents during a Capitol Hill news conference in 1996.

Dennis Cook/AP

Reid, holding a land-mine detection device, listens as scientist Gregory Pekarsky explains how it works during a demonstration in Mercury, Nevada, in 1998.

Lennox McLendon/AP

President Bill Clinton, right, discusses nuclear waste management with US Sens. Richard Bryan, Max Baucus and Reid while aboard Air Force One in 1999.

Reuters

Reid stands next to US Sen. Patrick Leahy as he takes a photo of President George W. Bush signing an anti-terrorism bill in 2001. It was six weeks after the September 11 attacks.

Doug Mills/AP

Reid’s wife, Landra, helps arrange his new Capitol office in 2005. The two married in 1959.

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images

Reid and Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers meet members of the media in 2005. Miers was nominated by President Bush to replace Sandra Day O’Connor. O’Connor’s seat eventually went to Samuel Alito instead.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

Reid addresses the Democratic National Committee during its annual winter meeting in 2007.

Christopher Morris/VII/Redux

Reid talks at his desk in the Capitol in 2008.

Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/AP

Reid arrives on Capitol Hill in 2009.

Harry Hamburg/AP

Reid greets US Rep. John Lewis at a campaign barbecue in Las Vegas in 2010.

Ruth Fremson/The New York Times/Redux

Reid kisses his wife, Landra, after winning re-election in 2010.

Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Reid speaks to members of the press during a news briefing in 2011.

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Reid walks over to the media after voting on a bill to raise the debt ceiling in 2011.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

Reid steps out of a weekly Democratic policy luncheon to talk on the phone in 2011.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Reid rubs his eyes during the counting of Electoral College votes in 2013.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Reid, far left, and other lawmakers from both parties surround President Barack Obama as he signs a proclamation commemorating his inauguration in 2013.

Jonathan Ernst/Pool/Getty Images

Reid, center, shares a laugh with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, left, and Vice President Joe Biden in 2013. They were attending the dedication ceremony for a new Frederick Douglass statue at the Capitol Visitor Center.

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Reid walks through the Capitol building during the government shutdown in 2013.

Andrew Burton/Getty Images

Reid arrives for a 2013 news conference after the US Senate passed the “nuclear option,” a controversial rules change that ended the ability of minority Republicans to continue using filibusters to block some of President Barack Obama’s judicial and executive nominations. Majority Democrats said it was needed to end unprecedented obstruction by minority Republicans. Republicans said it was a power grab.

Win McNamee/Getty Images

Reid speaks to the media in 2014.

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Reid’s eye is bandaged while talking to reporters in 2015. Reid broke several ribs and bones in his face when a piece of exercise equipment he was using broke, causing him to fall.

Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi arrive for a Capitol news conference in 2015.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Reid and US Sen. Mitch McConnell sit across from each other inside the House chamber in 2015. Reid was minority leader at the time, and McConnell was majority leader.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Reid talks to the media after a weekly policy luncheon in 2015.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Reid holds up Obama’s hand after the President delivered a keynote address at the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas in 2015.

Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Reid joins other Senate Democrats in front of the Supreme Court in 2016 as they demanded that Senate Republicans hold confirmation hearings for President Obama’s new Supreme Court nominee. GOP leaders in the Senate said they would not hold a confirmation hearing after Obama said he would name someone to replace Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, who died earlier that month while on a hunting trip in Texas.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Reid and his wife, Landra, walk off stage after Reid spoke at the Democratic National Convention in 2016. Reid retired the next year.

Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images

Reid acknowledges the audience during a Nevada Democrats event in Las Vegas in 2019. A year earlier, he underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer.

David Becker/Getty Images