Vegas airport name change to honor former Sen. Harry Reid
A county board voted unanimously Tuesday to rename busy McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas after former U.S. Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada.
The all-Democratic Clark County Commission approved a measure directing the county’s airport staff to file a change with the Federal Aviation Administration renaming the facility Harry Reid International Airport.
The county commission oversees the airport and is the final authority on a name change.
There have been longstanding calls to rename the airport. Its current namesake, former Nevada Sen. Patrick McCarran, served as one of Nevada’s two U.S. senators from 1933 until his death in 1954. He was known for his contributions to aviation along with his anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic views.
Reid, a Democrat and the former Senate majority leader, retired from the Senate in 2016 after serving 30 years. The proposal was put forward by Commissioner Tick Segerblom, a former chair of the state Democratic Party who announced last week he is again running for the chairmanship.
The Federal Aviation Administration says it must take steps to process a name change before officially recognizing it. That’s expected to take a few months.
“It is with humility that I express my appreciation for the recognition today. I would like to express my deep gratitude to Commissioner Segerblom, the entire Clark County Commission, and the many others who have played a part in this renaming,” Reid said in a statement Tuesday.
The proposal drew public support from longtime Reid aides and supporters, including Dan Hamilton, dean of the law school at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Stephen J. Cloobeck, founder of Diamond Resorts International, Inc. and a major Democratic donor; and MGM Resorts, which has Reid co-chairing its public policy institute.
MGM Resorts Director of Government Affairs Jason Gray read a statement from the company’s CEO and President Bill Hornbuckle in which he said that with McCarran’s history of support for racist and antiSemitic policies, his name should not be the first one visitors see when they reach Nevada.
“Las Vegas’s main airport should be named for a champion of values important to Nevada, a champion of Nevada: Sen. Harry Reid,” Gray said.