The venue was different, and his face was bruised and bandaged, but Harry Reid was still Harry Reid.
With an American and Nevada flag in the background, along with a bald eagle and a box of “Search Light” matches on the wall over his shoulder, Reid held court with reporters in a meeting room in his Capitol office suite for a news conference that could’ve taken place any Tuesday afternoon near the Senate’s iconic Ohio Clock.
Of course, many of the questions were about the minority leader’s medical prognosis and any effect it might have on his decision about making a run for another six years in the Senate in 2016.
The Nevada Democrat expects to be back to full-time work soon, and intends to run for re-election.
He detailed reconstructive surgery he will have Monday on his face and right eye, following an exercising accident that broke several bones and four ribs. Reid told reporters there’s “no reason” why he wouldn’t be back full time in the Senate a week after the surgery.
He said one bone on the side of his eye was pushed in toward the eye. Surgeons will drain the blood from the front and back of his eye, Reid said, and his prognosis is good.
As for his re-election plans, Reid said his team is ready to go back in Nevada.
“Everything’s online. We’re off and running,” he said.
But he was not definitive.
“At this stage I’m fully intending to run,” he said.
Reid brushed off a question about whether he would sue the manufacturer of the exercise equipment he said broke.
He also praised other Democratic leaders, saying that they were doing a good job in his absence.
He started off the news conference with a short statement blasting Republicans for not swiftly passing a “clean” homeland security funding bill.
The 114th: CQ Roll Call’s Guide to the New Congress
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