Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris will controversially skip the historic Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation dinner.
The snub from Harris breaks decades of tradition for presidential candidates.
It comes as Vice President Harris continues to duck out on countless press opportunities.
And now, Harris will be skipping another important event traditionally attended by the presidential nominees of each party.
According to Breitbart, Harris will reportedly skip the historic and traditional Al Smith fundraiser dinner.
During the event, presidential candidates typically “lightly” roast one another and others.
The fundraising dinner, which is held in Midtown Manhattan, is one of the more important events of the late campaign season.
Tickets are extremely difficult to obtain and are always sold out.
When asked why she wouldn’t be in attendance, Harris’s campaign told CNN that she would be campaigning in a battleground state at the time of the dinner.
Harris was knocked for snubbing the important dinner, where she has a major shot at winning over Catholic swing voters — an important demographic in the upcoming election.
BREAKING: Kamala Harris’s campaign announces that she will NOT be attending the annual Al Smith dinner in New York next month. Traditionally, the presidential candidates appear together at this Catholic fundraiser. Harris is missing an opportunity to reach Catholic swing voters. pic.twitter.com/2uvLQK1MCK
— Raymond Arroyo (@RaymondArroyo) September 21, 2024
Breitbart described the fundraising dinner:
The event is described as being a “historic Catholic fundraiser” in which the two presidential nominees from the Democrat and Republican parties give “light roasts” that are “aimed at one another and others.”
The tradition of the presidential candidates speaking and roasting each other began when former President John F. Kennedy and former President Richard Nixon spoke at the Al Smith dinner in 1960, according to Fox News.
The dinner was attended by President Donald Trump in both 2016 and in 2020.
At the 2016 dinner, twice-failed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton shared the stage with Trump.
The two roasted each other and generated quite a bit of entertainment.
Archdiocese spokesperson Joseph Zwilling released a statement after news broke of Harris’s plan to skip the event.
“We are disappointed that she will not be with us, as this is an evening of unity and putting aside political differences in support of a good cause of helping women and children in need regardless of race, creed, or background,” he said.
Zwilling added, “I hope she reconsiders.”
Fox News added, that Joe Biden attended the dinner in 2020 with Trump.
However, neither candidate roasted each other at that one.
