PHOENIX (AP) – Vice President Kamala Harris will not attend this year’s Al Smith Charity Dinner in New York, Break with presidential tradition so that she can instead campaign in a swing state less than three weeks before Election Day.
The dinner, which benefited Catholic Charities, traditionally served to promote camaraderie and good cheer. Presidential candidates from both parties appeared on the same evening and exchanged barbs.
Harris’ team wants her to spend as much time as possible in the Swing States – contested states That will decide the election, not heavily Democratic New York, a campaign official said Saturday. He spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss his campaign plans, confirming a decision first reported by CNN. Her team told organizers that she would be willing to participate as president if elected, the official said.
Donald Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond when asked if he would attend the dinner. His appearance at the dinner in 2016 sparked boos when many in the audience felt he crossed a line when he called Democrat Hillary Clinton corrupt and claimed she hated Catholics.
This year’s white tie gala is scheduled for October 17th.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who plays a key role in the dinner, has been sharply critical of the Democrats, writing a 2018 editorial in the Wall Street Journal headlined “Democrats Are Failing.”
The Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner is named for the former governor of New York, a Democrat and the first Catholic to be nominated for president by a major party in 1928. He lost the election by a wide margin to Herbert Hoover. The dinner raises millions of dollars for Catholic charities and traditionally shows that those vying for leadership of the nation can get along, or at least pretend to, for an evening.
The event has become a tradition for presidential candidates since Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy appeared together in 1960. In 1996, the Archdiocese of New York decided not to invite then-President Bill Clinton and his Republican challenger Bob Dole, reportedly because Clinton had vetoed a ban on late-term abortions.
Trump And Joe Bidenwho is Catholic, both spoke at the 2020 fundraiser when it was moved online over concerns that large gatherings could spread COVID-19. Given the pandemic and economic woes, there were no jokes, and both candidates instead used their speeches to appeal to Catholic voters.
In 2016, Trump started out innocently enough, joking that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., loved Trump when he was a Democrat and poking fun at Clinton-related plagiarism. But Trump’s remarks soon turned to bitterness and insults.
