Harry Reid death: Tributes pour in after former Senate Majority Leader dies at 82

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Emotional tributes have started pouring in from across the political spectrum for former senate majority leader Harry Reid, who died at the age of 82.

US president Joe Biden said the boxer-turned-politician was a “giant of our history”.

“During the two decades we served together in the United States Senate, and the eight years we worked together while I served as Vice President, Harry met the marker for what I’ve always believed is the most important thing by which you can measure a person — their action and their word,” said Mr Biden in a statement.

“If Harry said he would do something, he did it. If he gave you his word, you could bank on it. That’s how he got things done for the good of the country for decades,” Mr Biden added.

“For Harry, it wasn’t about power for power’s sake. It was about the power to do right for the people.”

Reid’s successor and Democrat senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said Reid was “my leader, my mentor, one of my dearest friends.”

Mr Schumer called Reid “one of the most amazing individuals I’ve ever met.”

“He was tough-as-nails strong, but caring and compassionate, and always went out of his way quietly to help people who needed help,” he added.

Nevada governor Steve Sisolak remembered Reid as “a mentor, father figure, and someone I always looked up to.”

“There will never be another leader like him. Kathy and I send our condolences to [wife] Landra [Reid] and the Reid family. Senator Reid will be deeply missed but the mark he left on our state will last forever,” the governor said.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi penned a lengthy tribute for Reid. In it, she said the US had “lost a titan of public service.”

“Senator Harry Reid was a leader of immense courage and ferocious conviction who worked tirelessly to achieve historic progress for the American people,” she said.

“As a son of a miner and a laundress, raised in a humble childhood, Senator Reid was a leader with strong family values, a pioneer spirit and an unyielding commitment to lift up others,” she added.

Former president Barack Obama also shared a tribute, which he had earlier sent to Reid through his wife Landra when he learned about the leader’s failing health.

Mr Obama shared the letter on Twitter.

“The world is better cause of what you’ve done. Not bad for a skinny, poor kid from Searchlight,” the former president said in the letter.

“I wouldn’t have been president had it not been for your encouragement and support, I wouldn’t have got most of what I got done without your skill and determination,” he added.

Republican leader Mitch McConnell released a statement condoling Reid’s demise and said that Nevada and the country was mourning a “dedicated public servant and a truly one-of-a-kind US Senator.”

“The runway that brought Harry to the upper chamber was nothing short of amazing. His life’s journey began in a house that lacked running water,” the Republican leader said.

“It took him all the way from amateur boxing and a stint with the US Capitol Police to eventually becoming one of the most senior leaders whom that force protected. You could hardly invent a more quintessentially American story, and it took Harry’s legendary toughness, bluntness, and tenacity to make it happen,” the tribute read.

Reid’s family said on Tuesday that he died peacefully and was surrounded by friends at home “following a courageous four-year battle with pancreatic cancer.”

Funeral arrangements will be announced in the coming days, Ms Reid said.