Former President Donald Trump will headline the 79th Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner. At the same time, Vice President Kamala Harris will skip it— making her the first presidential candidate to skip the dinner since 1984.
The event, which benefits Catholic charities, has traditionally been attended by Republican and Democratic presidential nominees dating to the 1960s. The dinner is an amusing night to get the election festivities rolling.
While Trump will give in-person remarks, Harris—a so-called “devout” Catholic— will send in a pre-recorded video. Instead, Harris’s campaign team said the vice president will be “busy” campaigning in battleground states.
“The Vice President is going to be campaigning in a battleground state that day, and the campaign wants to maximize her time in the battlegrounds this close to the election. Her team also told the organizers that she would very much like to attend their event as President. This would make her one of the first sitting Presidents to attend," Harris’s team said.
The dinner will look quite different from past years since Harris won’t be attending. The event usually allows each presidential candidate to speak and lightheartedly roast one another. However, since Harris refuses to attend, the event will focus on Trump’s speech instead.
“It will be an honor to attend the SOLD OUT 79th ANNUAL AL SMITH DINNER on October 17th in New York. It will be great to see so many wonderful people there, including Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan. We know the Spirit of Al Smith, the first Catholic Nominee of a Major Party, and John F. Kennedy, the FIRST Catholic president, will be in the room with us that night," Trump posted on Truth Social in September. “"It was a virtual event in 2020, and I was delighted to speak to our Catholic friends that day and, of course, it was a HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL evening in 2016 when we were there in person with Crooked Hillary Clinton. The reviews of my remarks were TREMENDOUS. It’s sad, but not surprising, that Kamala has decided not to attend. I don’t know what she has against our Catholic friends, but it must be a lot, because she certainly hasn’t been very nice to them, in fact, Catholics are literally being persecuted by this Administration. Any Catholic that votes for Comrade Kamala Harris should have their head examined.”
In addition, former First Lady Melania Trump will be there alongside her husband after being noticeably absent from the campaign trail for most of the 2024 race.
An inside source said that Melania’s decision to attend the dinner is because “it’s tradition,” suggesting that “this could be a precursor to more activity” from her.