Harris to Skip Catholic Charity Dinner, Breaking Longstanding Presidential Tradition

Kamala Harris Sept. 20, 2024(Getty Images-Scott Olson)

NEW YORK CITY (TND) — Vice President Kamala Harris will skip this year’s Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in October, opting instead to campaign in a battleground state with just weeks until the election, according to several media outlets.

The move breaks years of presidential tradition dating back to 1960, when former Presidents John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon were speakers. The two ran against each other that year. Since then, it has become customary for nominees of both political parties to attend the dinner.

Democrats have historically found the Catholic fundraiser’s attendees to be a tough crowd primarily due to politics surrounding abortion. Harris has made abortion access a crucial part of her campaign, telling voters Trump will sign a national abortion ban if elected.

Though speakers at the dinner typically offer lighthearted roasts of one another, Trump in 2016 delivered bruising remarks about his opponent, Hillary Clinton.

“Here she is tonight in public pretending not to hate Catholics,” Trump jeered. “According to her sworn testimony, Hillary has forgotten more things than some of us will ever, ever know.”

This year’s host, Jim Gaffigan, wrote via X Harris was originally expected to visit the event.

“I guess the next and final time we will see these two kids together will be at the 79th Al Smith Memorial Dinner on October 17th,” Gaffigan wrote in response to Trump’s decision to decline a third presidential debate.

Neither political campaign responded to a request for comment from The National Desk Monday.

In July, Harris declined an invited to take the stage alongside Trump at the National Black Journalist Association convention. She paid the group a solo visit this month, during which she touted her proposal to give first-time homebuyers $25,000 in down payment assistance.