As Senate Democratic support trickles in for the Iran nuclear deal, Minority Leader Harry Reid has remained notably silent as he fields pressure from opponents who want him to reject it, and the Obama administration and other Democrats pushing him to approve it.
The Senate’s top Democrat told reporters in Nevada last week he’s going to announce his decision on the Senate floor on Sept. 8, as soon as the chamber reconvenes following the five-week August recess.
“It’s a matter of conscience, and I’m going to make my decision,” Reid said, according to Jon Ralston, who hosts a Nevada political program. “And I want to be as deliberate as I need to be and I will be.”
For Reid, the decision is also a matter of balancing his alliances in Nevada and Washington D.C.
Many expect the five-term Senator will side with President Obama and vote against a Republican resolution to disapprove of the deal, which would lift economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for the Islamic Republic reducing its nuclear capability.
Over the years, Reid has established himself as a solid ally of the Obama administration when it comes to his legislative priorities, and the Iran deal is lined up to become the president’s crowning foreign policy achievements. Reid is also headed for retirement in 2016, which would make it easier for him to vote in favor of the deal without fearing a backlash from constituents who oppose it.
“I would be surprised if he came out against the deal,” Eric B. Herzik, a University of Nevada political science professor, told the Washington Examiner. “He is still the party’s leader in the Senate so it would be rather extraordinary if the Democratic leader didn’t support the Democratic President.”
But Reid must also contend with influential Nevada constituents who want him to vote against the deal, including longtime friend Sheldon Adelson, an influential Jewish business leader in Nevada, CEO of the Las Vegas Sands and a top Republican donor. Adelson is lobbying hard to get lawmakers to oppose the deal and has given millions to groups advocating in opposition to it.
According to the New York Times, Reid refused a White House request earlier this month to quickly announce his support for the deal to dull the impact of Schumer’s announcement against it.
Reid indicated that it’s a real decision for him to make, and has dropped a few hints about why he’s waiting to announce his intentions.
“The one thing I need to do, I have people I need to meet, I need to meet with people who have been very good to me over the years,” Reid told Ralston at the press conference.
Ralston told the Examiner that Reid seemed to suggest at the event that he’s leaning in favor of approving the deal, but needs to make the rounds with opponents of the deal, namely Adelson, and perhaps other influential Jewish business leaders in Nevada.
“Some think that he may go the other way, especially because Sheldon Adelson is so dead-set against it,” Ralston told the Examiner. “Reid and Adelson have a cordial, even friendly relationship. I don’t think that’s impossible, Reid can be mercurial, but I still think the odds are he goes for the deal.”
So far, two Senate Democrats have announced opposition to the deal, but they are influential. Sen. Charles Schumer, of New York, who is the number-three Senate Democrat, and Bob Menendez, of New Jersey, said they opposed the deal because it did not go far enough to stop Iran from producing a nuclear weapon.
Support for the deal, meanwhile, ticked up to 25 Senate Democrats on Thursday when Sen. Claire McCaskill, of Missouri, announced she’ll vote to approve it.
Congress is slated to vote on the deal by mid-September.
