McCarran International Airport (soon to be renamed Harry Reid International Airport) is an international airport in Paradise, Nevada and is the main government airport for public use in the Las Vegas Valley, a metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Nevada, about south of Downtown Las Vegas. The airport is owned by the Clark County Commission and operated by the Clark County Department of Aviation. It is named after the late U.S. Senator Pat McCarran, a member of the Democratic Party who contributed to the development of aviation both in Las Vegas and on a national scale. LAS covers 2,800 acres (11.3 km2) of land.