John Francis Reed GOIH (born November 12, 1949) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Rhode Island, a seat he was first elected to in 1996.

Reed graduated from the United States Military Academy and Harvard University, serving in the U.S. Army as an active officer from 1971 to 1979.

Reed attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he received a Master of Public Policy.

After leaving active duty, Reed enrolled in Harvard Law School, where he became a member of the Board of Student Advisers.

In 1982, he graduated with his Juris Doctor and worked as an associate at the Washington, D.C. office of law firm of Sutherland Asbill & Brennan.

Reed won the Democratic primary with 86% of the vote and beat the Republican nominee, Rhode Island General Treasurer Nancy Mayer, 63% to 35%.

Unopposed in the Democratic primary, Reed faced former congressional nominee and former Rhode Island Republican Party Chairman Mark Zaccaria in the general election.

[11] After Obama was reelected in 2012 and Panetta announced his decision to retire, Reed was again mentioned as a possible nominee for the position, as well as for Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

He just asked the people of Rhode Island to hire him for another six-year term and plans on honoring that commitment.

"[16] On November 24, 2014, Ted Nesi of WPRI-TV gave some reasons that Reed might be uninterested in cabinet positions, citing his "safe seat", his status as one of the most popular politicians in the state, his fondness for working in the Senate and his passion for housing policy.

He concluded that "no matter how many times Reed's aides privately groan about another flareup of defense secretary speculation, they surely appreciate that each recurrence is a sign of the senator's positive reputation in Washington and Obama's esteem for him.

[21] Reed was rated among the top ten most popular senators in a Morning Consult poll from April 2024.

[24] In July 2019, Reed and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar sent a letter to Acting Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kevin McAleenan requesting an explanation of the actions the DHS took in response to "unexpected behavior" of voting equipment in Durham County, North Carolina during the 2016 presidential election and writing that it was "critical that we learn as much as we can about the extent of the attacks we faced in 2016, and that these lessons be shared as widely as possible so that our nation is fully prepared for the 2020 elections.

He opposed establishing English as the nation's official language and has been critical of the effort to fence the US-Mexican border.

[23] He is the author of the Reed Amendment, which permits former U.S. citizens to be denied entry to the country if they are believed to have renounced their citizenship for tax reasons.

[29] On February 23, 2010, Reed co-sponsored the DREAM Act, a piece of legislation that would allow undocumented students living in the United States from a very young age to gain legal status.

[30] In October 2018, Reed was one of 20 senators to sign a letter to then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging him to reverse the rollback of a policy that granted visas to same-sex partners of LGBTQ diplomats who had unions that were not recognized by their home countries, writing that too many places around the world have seen LGBTQIA+ individuals "subjected to discrimination and unspeakable violence, and receive little or no protection from the law or local authorities", and that the US refusing to let LGBTQIA+ diplomats bring their partners to the US would be tantamount to upholding "the discriminatory policies of many countries around the world.

[33] In 2007, he elaborated on his sentiments, saying, "It was a flawed strategy that diverted attention and resources away from hunting down Osama bin Laden's terrorist network."

[36][35] On October 1, 2020, Reed co-signed a letter to then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that condemned Azerbaijan’s offensive operations against the Republic of Artsakh, denounced Turkey’s role in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and called for an immediate ceasefire.

"[39] In June 2024, Reed joined Senators Mitt Romney, Jerry Moran, and Angus King in proposing a framework to mitigate the existential risk from artificial general intelligence.