(VitalNews.org) – Donald Trump confirmed that he would be a featured speaker at this year’s AI Smith Charity dinner in New York, however, his opponent, Kamala Harris, has said that she’d be skipping this dinner.
Donald Trump, the former president and Republican nominee, has confirmed on his social media app Truth Social that he’d be attending the event while saying it was “sad, but not surprising” that his opponent Kamala Harris wouldn’t be attending.
Usually, this gala would be attended by both presidential nominees on the same night, but Harris’ campaign has confirmed that she wouldn’t be at the event. This ultimately broke the presidential tradition as she stated that she’d be campaigning in a battleground state instead.
Harris’ team has stated that they want her to spend as much time as possible in battleground states that will decide the election results rather than in New York, where they are already heavily Democratic. Her team did say that she’d be willing to attend as president if she’s elected, but as of now, she’s focusing on her campaign.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan has played a prominent role in this dinner, and he’s also been highly critical of Democrats. He posted a journal-op that had the headline “The Democrats Abandon Catholics” after finding out that Kamala Harris wouldn’t be attending the dinner.
The Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner is named after a former New York Governor who was the first Roman Catholic and Democrat to be nominated as president by a major party. He went against Herbert Hoover and lost against him in the late twenties. The dinner is used to raise millions of dollars for Catholic charities and has been a tradition to get nominees to work toward a common goal and get along, at least for the night.
Trump has said that Harris hasn’t been “very nice to Catholics” and that those who support her should “have their head examined.”
A campaigner on Harris’ team has said that they are working with Catholics for Harris-Walz to register people to vote and get involved in outreach across the country.
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