Kamala Harris to skip historic Al Smith Dinner in New York before election, campaign official says

(CNN) — Vice President Kamala Harris will not attend next month’s Al Smith charity dinner in New York City, her campaign has told organizers, opting instead to stump in a battleground state on October 17, less than three weeks before the election.

The historic Catholic fundraiser traditionally features light roasts by the two major-party nominees – aimed at one another and others – in presidential election years. This fall’s gathering is already sold out and poised to welcome an estimated 1,500 guests to a gala ballroom in Midtown Manhattan,

Donald Trump stunned attendees in 2016 when he abandoned the collegial banter and launched a series of personal attacks on Hillary Clinton, who in her own remarks had offered the expected round of self-deprecating humor. The affair – black-tie for attendees, white-tie for the headliners – is named after the first major-party Catholic presidential nominee, four-term New York Gov. Al Smith, the Democratic standard-bearer in 1928.

Smith lost to Republican Herbert Hoover, and it would be more than three decades before another Catholic candidate, Democrat John F. Kennedy, was nominated by a major party – on his way to the White House in 1960.

Eight years ago, with New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan seated nearby, Trump ambushed Clinton, calling her a liar and mocking her over hacked emails.

When the audience booed, Trump went further, saying, “I don’t know who they’re angry at, Hillary, you or I. For example, here she is tonight, in public, pretending not to hate Catholics.”

Dolan would likely have sat between the candidates this year. He came under criticism in 2017 over his relationship with Trump. He also gave the invocation at Trump’s swearing-in. Harris did tell the dinner’s organizers that she hoped to attend the event in the coming years – as president, a campaign official said.

In 2020, Trump and Joe Biden both addressed a virtual version of the celebration, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, in more somber tones. Both made appeals to Catholic voters, but the jokes and jabs were set aside. Biden was elected the following month as the nation’s second Catholic president.

Neither Harris nor Trump had formally committed to attending this year, but both were expected, according to comedian and emcee Jim Gaffigan.

Gaffigan promoted the dinner on social media on September 12 in response to Trump’s announcement that he would not debate Harris again.

“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 of Trump and Harris.

It was not to be.

Harris announced Saturday that she had accepted an invitation from CNN to debate Trump on October 23, less than a week after the dinner, challenging the former president to another high-stakes one-on-one showdown less than two weeks before Election Day.

“Vice President Harris is ready for another opportunity to share a stage with Donald Trump,” campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement. “Donald Trump should have no problem agreeing to this debate.”

Trump, who had occasionally suggested some openness to a second debate with Harris, argued Saturday that it was “too late” for another presidential face-off.

“The problem with another debate is that it’s just too late, voting has already started,” Trump said at a campaign rally in Wilmington, North Carolina.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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