William Raggio (October 30, 1926 – February 23, 2012) was an American politician and a former Republican member of the

Nevada Senate The Nevada Senate is the upper house of the Nevada Legislature, the state legislature of U.S. state of Nevada, the lower house being the Nevada Assembly. It currently (2012–2021) consists of 21 members from single-member districts. In the pr ...

. He represented Washoe County's 3rd district from 1972 until his retirement in 2011. He is the longest-serving member in the history of the State Senate.

Early life, education, and early career

Raggio was born in

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

in 1926. He obtained his B.A. by attending

Louisiana Tech University Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public university, public research university in Ruston, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and Carnegie Classification of Institu ...

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

, and

University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada, United States. It is the state's flagship public university and prim ...

, where he was a member of

Alpha Tau Omega Alpha Tau Omega (), commonly known as ATO, is an American social Fraternities and sororities, fraternity founded at the Virginia Military Institute in 1865 by Otis Allan Glazebrook. The fraternity has around 250 active and inactive chapters an ...

. He obtained his J.D. from the

Hastings College of Law The University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (abbreviated as UC Law SF or UC Law) is a public law school in San Francisco, California, United States. It was known as the University of California, Hastings College of the Law (a ...

at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

and the

Boalt Hall School of Law The University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Berkeley Law) is the law school of the University of California, Berkeley. The school was commonly referred to as "Boalt Hall" for many years, although it was never the official name. This cam ...

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. Raggio then joined the military. He was a member of the

United States Navy Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2004, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called reservists, are categorized as being in either the S ...

(USNR) and became a Second Lieutenant of the

United States Marine Corps Reserve The Marine Forces Reserve (MARFORRES or MFR), also known as the United States Marine Corps Reserve (USMCR) and the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve, is the reserve force of the United States Marine Corps. The Marine Corps Reserve is an expedit ...

(USMCR). Raggio started his legal career as an Assistant District Attorney of

Washoe County Washoe County () is a county in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 486,492, making it Nevada's second-most populous county. Its county seat is Reno. Washoe County is included in the Reno, NV Metropolitan Statis ...

(1952–1958) and was the D.A. of the county (1958–1970).

Political career

1970 U.S. Senate race

Raggio first ran for public office statewide in 1970 against incumbent Democrat U.S. Senator

Howard Cannon Howard Walter Cannon (January 26, 1912 – March 5, 2002) was an American politician from Nevada. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served four terms in the United States Senate representing Nevada from 1959 ...

, who defeated Raggio, the Republican nominee, with nearly 58% of the vote to serve a third term.

1974 Lieutenant Governor race

Incumbent Democratic Lieutenant Governor of Nevada

Harry Reid Harry Mason Reid Jr. (; December 2, 1939 – December 28, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Nevada from 1987 to 2017. He led the Senate Democratic Caucus from 2005 to 2 ...

decided not to run for another term, in order to run for the U.S. Senate. This left an open seat. Democratic nominee Robert E. Rose defeated Raggio, the Republican nominee, with an estimated 52% of the vote statewide.

State Senate tenure (1972–2011)

Raggio served 12 special and 19 regular sessions, the longest Senate service in Nevada history. He was Senate Minority Floor Leader in 1977–1979, 1983–1986, 1991, and 2009. He was Senate Majority Floor Leader in 1987–1989 and 1993–2007. He was Chairman of the Interim Senate Finance Committee in 1988–1990, 1993–1994, 1997–1998, and 2001–2002. He was Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee from 1987 to 1989 and 1993–2005. He was also Chairman of the Legislative Committee on Education from 1997 to 1999 and 2001–2003.

Death

On February 23, 2012, Raggio died at the age of 85 while on vacation in Sydney, Australia. His cause of death was reported as respiratory illness. Raggio fathered three children, Leslie, Tracy and Mark (d. 2004).

References

External links

Senator William J. Raggio
''official Nevada Legislature site'' *
William J. Raggio
at Jones Vargas law firm
William J. Raggio Papers
Special Collections, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Reno * {{DEFAULTSORT:Raggio, William 1926 births 2012 deaths Nevada lawyers Republican Party Nevada state senators District attorneys in Nevada Politicians from Reno, Nevada Candidates in the 1970 United States elections University of California College of the Law, San Francisco alumni UC Berkeley School of Law alumni Respiratory disease deaths in New South Wales 20th-century American lawyers United States Navy reservists United States Marine Corps officers United States Marine Corps reservists American people of Italian descent 20th-century members of the Nevada Legislature 21st-century members of the Nevada Legislature