Kamala Harris will not attend dinner with Al Smith, a traditional event for major presidential candidates
PHOENIX (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris will miss this year’s Al Smith Charity Dinner in New York, break with presidential tradition so she can campaign in a key state less than three weeks before Election Day.
The Catholic Charities benefit dinner has traditionally been used to promote collegiality and good humor, with presidential candidates from both parties appearing on the same night and trading barbs.
Harris’ team wants her to spend as much time as possible in the Key States She will decide the outcome of the election, rather than the presidential race in New York, which is heavily Democratic, a campaign official said Saturday, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss campaign plans and confirm a decision first reported by CNN. Her team has told organizers she would be willing to run as president if elected, the official said.
Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a question about whether he would attend the dinner. His 2016 appearance at the dinner drew boos, with many in the audience saying he crossed the line by calling Democrat Hillary Clinton corrupt and saying she hated Catholics.
This year’s white-tie gala is scheduled for October 17.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who plays a prominent role at the dinner, has been highly critical of Democrats, writing an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal in 2018 titled “Democrats Are Abandoning Catholics.”
The Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner is named for the former New York governor, a Democrat and the first Roman Catholic to win the presidential nomination of a major party in 1928. He was handily defeated by Herbert Hoover. It raises millions of dollars for Catholic charities and has traditionally shown that those vying to lead the nation can get along, or pretend to, for a night.
The event has become a tradition for presidential candidates since Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy appeared there together in 1960. In 1996, the Archdiocese of New York decided not to invite then-President Bill Clinton and his Republican opponent, Bob Dole, apparently because Clinton vetoed a ban on late-term abortion.
Asset And Joe Bidenwho is Catholic, both spoke at the fundraiser in 2020, when it was moved online due to concerns about large gatherings spreading COVID-19. Amid the pandemic and economic hardship, there was no joking around, and both candidates instead used their speeches to appeal to Catholic voters.
In 2016, Trump started innocently enough. He joked that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., liked Trump when he was a Democrat. He mocked plagiarism involving Clinton. But Trump’s remarks quickly degenerated into bitterness and insults.
