Kamala Harris plans to skip historic Al Smith dinner despite long-standing tradition

Vice President Kamala Harris will skip the historic Al Smith dinner, eschewing a decades-old campaign tradition in which presidential candidates roast each other.

Harris' campaign told event organizers Harris was instead planning to campaign in an unspecified battleground state.

The annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner is traditionally held in New York City to benefit Catholic Charities and is hosted by the archbishop of New York. This year's event, on Oct. 17, will be the 79th.

"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," Archdiocese spokesperson Joseph Zwilling told The New York Post. "We hope she reconsiders."

Every presidential election year, the Republican and Democratic candidates will typically come together to give humorous speeches at the dinner. The tradition began when John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon spoke at the event in 1960.

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There have been exceptions to the tradition. The Al Smith dinner opted not to invite the two major presidential candidates during the 1996, 2000 and 2004 election cycles.

Fox News Digital asked the Trump campaign if the Republican candidate plans on attending the dinner but did not immediately hear back. The last time a Democratic candidate opted out of the event while a Republican nominee attended was in 1984, when President Ronald Reagan gave a speech without Walter Mondale in the audience. 

In 2020, both President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden appeared at the dinner. Neither candidate took shots at the other despite the intensity of the race.

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"Throughout my life of public service I’ve been guided by the tenets of Catholic social doctrine," Biden said in his speech. "What you do to the least among us, you do to me."

"Catholics have enriched our nation beyond measure," Trump said at the dinner. "The essence of the Catholic faith, as Jesus Christ said in the gospel, ‘Everyone will know you are my disciples.'"

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment but did not immediately hear back.

The Associated Press and Fox News Digital's Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.