William Hubert Briare (July 13, 1930 – December 8, 2006) was an American

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. He was the mayor of Las Vegas from 1975 to 1987. Briare was a member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

Personal life

Briare was born in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

. In the 1960s, Briare served in the

Nevada Assembly The Nevada Assembly is the lower house of the Nevada Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Nevada, the upper house being the Nevada Senate. The body consists of 42 members, elected to two-year ...

and as a Clark County Commissioner. In 1971, he lost his first campaign for mayor of

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

Oran K. Gragson Oran Kenneth Gragson (February 14, 1911 – October 7, 2002) was an American businessman and politician. He was the longest-serving mayor of Las Vegas, Nevada, from 1959 to 1975. Gragson, a member of the Republican Party, was a small business ow ...

, but Briare was elected in his next attempt in 1975, defeating

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

. Briare was so positive about the city that people would ask him if he was the president of the Chamber of Commerce. His obituary in the ''Las Vegas Review Journal'' noted that Briare's "public tenure came during a key time when control of casinos shifted from organized crime figures to corporations." In 1994, Briare ran for

Lieutenant Governor of Nevada The lieutenant governor of Nevada is a constitutional officer in the executive branch, executive branch of government of the U.S. state of Nevada. The lieutenant governor maintains an office in Carson City, Nevada at the Nevada State Capitol and i ...

, but lost to

Lonnie Hammargren Lonnie Lee Hammargren (born December 25, 1937) is an American politician and a retired neurosurgeon. He was elected a member of the non-partisan board of regents for the Nevada System of Higher Education, an office he held from 1988 to 1994; he ...

. Briare died in Las Vegas at the age of 76, and was interred at Woodlawn Cemetery.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Briare, William H. 1930 births 2006 deaths Mayors of Las Vegas Democratic Party members of the Nevada Assembly People from the Las Vegas Valley People from Long Beach, California 20th-century American politicians Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Las Vegas)