Presidential race: Reid backs Hillary Clinton for 2016

WASHINGTON — Three years before the next presidential election, Sen. Harry Reid has his candidate.

Declaring himself one of her biggest fans, Reid said in a televised interview on Wednesday that Hillary Clinton, if elected, “would handle things probably even better than (Bill Clinton) did.”

“Remember, the last three or four years (Bill Clinton) was here we reduced the debt and created 22 million jobs — pretty good deal,” Reid, the Senate majority leader from Nevada, said on the PBS NewsHour.

“Hillary Clinton may have a bigger fan than Harry Reid, I just don’t know who it would be,” he said. “I think that what she did as a senator, what she did as secretary of state will go down in history books as a remarkable, remarkable job that she did.”

Reid encouraged Barack Obama to run for president in 2008, disclosing it in a memoir after the election and Democratic primaries in which he was publicly neutral between the Illinois senator and Hillary Clinton, who then was a New York senator.

Reid’s son Rory, who was Clark County Commission chairman at the time, was chairman of Clinton’s campaign in Nevada.

But now, leading Democrats are coalescing around Clinton, who earlier this year wrapped up a four-year stint as secretary of state. She has not signaled her intentions, but several supporters, including a SuperPAC called Ready for Hillary, are encouraging her to run.

In addition to Reid, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California told USA Today last month “there is a great deal of excitement” about a potential Clinton candidacy, and she urged her to run in 2016.

At a meeting with reporters Thursday, Reid was asked about his endorsement of Clinton.

“I hope she heard me,” he said.

Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760. Follow him on Twitter @STetreaultDC.