Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid denied discouraging a Muslim Democrat from running for office due to his religion.
“That would be an embarrassment to me and I’m sorry that he’s embarrassed me,” the Nevada Democrat told KSNV Las Vegas. “He’s embarrassed, my staff. I have four Muslims that work for me.”
That’s the latest in a case of friendly fire between Reid and Jesse Sbaih, a Muslim congressional candidate who sought the senior senator’s support, only to be rebuffed. It comes at an unfortunate time for Reid, in the wake of him attacking Donald Trump over his “disgraceful policies” pertaining to refugees from Muslim-majority countries.
Sbaih has been relentless of late in his criticism of Reid, a tack that might help him secure a politically useful outsider status in the upcoming Democratic congressional primary. “So I had this meeting with Sen. Reid back in August of 2015,” Sbaih told KSNV. “I get there — it was at the Paris Hotel, and one of the first things he said to me, he said, ‘Let me be blunt: You will not be able to win this race because you’re a Muslim.'”
Jon Ralston, the Nevada political reporter who reported the accusation, “confirmed that Sbaih’s religion came up,” but only while discussing the attacks he might face. “Sources close to Reid do not deny Sbaih’s religion came up — it would be political malpractice for them not to have raised it — or that they tried to encourage him not to cut his political teeth in a high-profile congressional race and tried to steer him to an Assembly race or to apply for a presidential appointment,” Ralston reported.
Reid denies mentioning Sbaih’s religion. “No, no, [that’s] something he made up,” he told KSNV.
The meeting didn’t so offend Sbaih that he couldn’t praise the senator afterward, but they have a sour relationship now. “Jesse Sbaih is a liar and that’s why he is going to lose,” Kristen Orthman, a Reid spokeswoman, said earlier this week.
