PHOENIX — Vice-Chairman Kamala Harris will skip this year’s Al Smith charity dinner in New York, break with presidential tradition so she can instead campaign in a state where elections are only three weeks away.
The dinner benefiting Catholic Charities is traditionally used to promote fellowship and good humor. Presidential candidates from both parties appear on the same night and trade venomous remarks.
Harris’ team wants them to spend as much time as possible in the battlefield states who will decide the election instead of heavily Democratic New York, a campaign official said Saturday, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss campaign plans and confirm a decision first reported by CNN. Her team told organizers she would be willing to attend as president if elected, the official said.
Donald Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether he would attend the dinner. His appearance at the dinner in 2016 drew 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 17.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who plays a prominent role at the dinner, has been highly critical of Democrats. He wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal in 2018 headlined, “Democrats Abandon Catholics.”
The Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner is named for the former governor of New York, a Democrat and the first Roman Catholic to be nominated for president by a major party in 1928. He was easily defeated by Herbert Hoover. It raises millions of dollars for Catholic charities and has traditionally shown that those vying to lead the country can get along for one night, or pretend to.
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 vetoed a ban on late-term abortions.
Trump And Joe Bidenwho is Catholic, both spoke at the 2020 fundraiser, which 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., had liked Trump when he was a Democrat. He joked about plagiarism in reference to Clinton. But Trump’s comments quickly degenerated into bitterness and insults.