Kamala Harris to Skip Al Smith Dinner, Bucking Decades-Long Tradition

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Kamala Harris to Skip Al Smith Dinner, Bucking Decades-Long Tradition
Spencer Platt
Cardinal Timothy Dolan sits between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump as they attend the annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria on Oct. 20, 2016, in New York City.

The annual dinner, named in honor of the first Catholic to run for president, raises millions of dollars for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York. Since John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon attended the dinner in 1960, it has been a tradition for both presidential nominees to attend and exchange lighthearted jokes about each other.