Former Senate staffer Natalie Ravitz, who previously served as communications director for former Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer, went viral on Twitter for sharing a powerful story of how the late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid helped her through grief.
Reid, a Nevada Democrat best known as one of the longest-serving Senate Majority Leaders in history and for leading efforts to enshrine the Affordable Care Act into law, died yesterday at the age of 82.
Ravitz's tribute comes as many of Reid's colleagues pay tribute to him and his legendary legislative career.
Please bear with the thread, but Harry Reid meant a lot to me and I want to share a short story about why. In 2002, I was press secretary for Senator Paul Wellstone\u2019s re-election campaign in Minnesota.— Natalie Ravitz (@Natalie Ravitz) 1640747944
Ravitz recalled that she was working as Press Secretary for Democratic Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone's re-election campaign in October 2002 at the time Wellstone, his wife Sheila, daughter Marcia, three of Ravitz's colleagues, and two pilots died in a plane crash.
Reid was one of the first of Wellstone's colleagues to fly in after the crash and she "spent all day taking him around to events and sorting politics."
On Oct 25, 2002, Paul, his wife Sheila, daughter Marcia, my colleagues Tom, Mary and Will, and two pilots were killed in a plane crash. Harry Reid was one of the first of Paul\u2019s colleagues to fly in. Still in shock, I spent all day taking him around to events and sorting politics— Natalie Ravitz (@Natalie Ravitz) 1640747944
Later, she drove Reid back to the airport. She said Reid must have heard that her boyfriend Will McLaughlin, was one of the Congressional staffers who'd died in the crash. Ravitz was supposed to be on the plane that day and was driving Reid in the same car her late boyfriend had used to take Wellstone to campaign events.
Reid asked to speak to Ravitz alone and then asked her to join him in a private plane his team had chartered.
When Ravitz hesitated, Reid said:
"I know what you lost and I know whose car you drove today. And I don’t want you to be afraid to get on a plane for the rest of your life. So let’s just go sit together for a little while."
I hesitated. He said: I know what you lost and I know whose car you drove today. And I don\u2019t want you to be afraid to get on a plane for the rest of your life. So let\u2019s just go sit together for a little while.— Natalie Ravitz (@Natalie Ravitz) 1640747946
The two boarded the plane and spoke over coffee. They paid tribute to Wellstone and "how brave he was voting against the war in Iraq." Reid, who grew up in poverty, was impressed by the "fancy gadgets" on the plane. And Ravitz spoke about McLaughlin and their plans to move back to Washington, D.C.
Ravitz recalled being touched by Reid's "empathy and emotional fortitude" when he offered to help her out after the crash cost her her home and her job:
"He said he knew I had lost my home and my job, but I had one with him whenever I was ready. The empathy and emotional fortitude he showed that day has stuck with me always. And it wasn’t just that day; he followed up to reiterate his offer two more times."
He said he knew I had lost my home and my job, but I had one with him whenever I was ready. The empathy and emotional fortitude he showed that day has stuck with me always. And it wasn\u2019t just that day; he followed up to reiterate his offer two more times.— Natalie Ravitz (@Natalie Ravitz) 1640747947
Reid was pleased when Ravitz joined Boxer's staff a few months later, telling her, "I’m still here if you need me."
When I joined @BarbaraBoxer a few months later he said \u201cshe\u2019s the best! But I\u2019m still here if you need me.\u201d I spent 7 years with Boxer, working closely with Reid\u2019s team and Democratic leadership. He always had a joke or a kind word for me.— Natalie Ravitz (@Natalie Ravitz) 1640747947
Ravitz concluded her tribute with an anecdote about the night the Senate passed the Affordable Care Act, when staffers were were "working through an impasse over women’s health services with Reid keeping Senators Boxer and Ben Nelson in different rooms."
It was Christmas Eve "and everyone was exhausted," she recalled, adding that no one had any food and "everything was closed." The deal came through as it started to snow more heavily.
We had no food and everything was closed: we ate a tin of holiday nuts and cookies sent by constituents and lobbyists. Reid needled Schumer for stealing all the cashews. We tried and failed to light the fireplace. And we finally got a deal as the snow really came down.— Natalie Ravitz (@Natalie Ravitz) 1640747947
When the deal was struck, Reid called former President Barack Obama to tell him the good news, putting him on speakerphone so everyone could hear.
"We cheered and the President thanked us all," Ravitz said.
Together, with all of us in the room, Reid called President Obama from on speaker- I think it was a flip phone- and said we have a deal and we\u2019re headed to the floor. We cheered and the President thanked us all.— Natalie Ravitz (@Natalie Ravitz) 1640747948
Ravitz remembered Reid for playing "a defining role in two bookends of my Senate career." She remembered him as "powerful and strategic, but also wry and soulful."
Finally, she said:
"I’m grateful to have known him, for what he gave this country, and for what he gave me sitting together quietly on a plane in Minnesota. RIP."
Many were moved by Ravitz's story and joined her in paying tribute to Reid
Thank you for sharing. It is just how I expected to find Harry Reid in private... Kind, generous with his time and talents, thoughtful for others outside himself. His leadership was amazing in how he found a way to come through. May he rest now. Peace to his friends and family.— Elle D. Wetherbee@TossOutTheGrift. (@Elle D. Wetherbee@TossOutTheGrift.) 1640751808
People think politics is all kinds of things, but this thread is what politics is. Good people, working long hard hours, sweating the details and taking care of each other. Most of us came from nothing, and want to make the world work a little better than it does. This is lovely.— Sonya Dunne (@Sonya Dunne) 1640759452
Thank you for sharing- it had to be an extremely devastating time- I am glad that he was there for you.— Dbeem (@Dbeem) 1640750380
Thank you for sharing this beautiful story & for your role in getting ACA passed. It saved me. I got sick 6 mos before the pre-existing condtn game became illegal & was stuck w/$150,000 in bills I had to fight off. Relieved ACA ended that.— Grace Wood (@Grace Wood) 1640753759
Your story has left me in a literal puddle. Wellstone & Boxer, & this encounter with Reid so beautifully told. I\u2019ve shared it on here with a \u201cmust read\u201d tag & many have already read it & reacted as I did. Thank you for sharing this.— Jon \u201cBowzer\u201d Bauman (@Jon \u201cBowzer\u201d Bauman) 1640754579
Natalie, I don\u2019t know you, but I thank you for sharing this about Harry Reid. He was a giant (as was the great & greatly missed Paul Wellstone).— Jocelyn Corbett \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\u2696\ufe0f\u270c\ud83c\udffb (@Jocelyn Corbett \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\u2696\ufe0f\u270c\ud83c\udffb) 1640750876
Your story means a lot to me. I had sensed those things about him, and you confirmed what I have always believed.— Dr. Christine Boese (@Dr. Christine Boese) 1640750582
Information on memorials for Reid are pending at this time. He is the second former member of the Senate to die this month. Former Senator Bob Dole, Republican of Kansas, died of stage four lung cancer on December 5 at the age of 98.
