NEW: Kamala Harris Folds, Plans To Skip Historic Al Smith Dinner

Vice President Kamala Harris announced that she will be skipping this year's Al Smith dinner, breaking with years upon years of presidential tradition.

The dinner, which serves as a fundraiser for Catholic Charities, has traditionally been used to promote camaraderie and unity between the two political candidates through humor. The event historically allows candidates to take light-hearted jabs at each other in an effort to cut down on extreme partisanship.

Instead of the charity event, Harris intends to hold campaign events in battleground states. A Harris Campaign spokesperson told the Associated Press that the vice president's time will be better spent in battleground states as opposed to deep blue New York, where the event is held.

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The Harris Campaign added that their candidate is open to attending only if she is elected president, the statement added.

Former President Donald Trump's Campaign has not yet commented on Harris' planned absence for the October 17 event. It also remains unclear whether Trump still plans to attend the event despite his opponent's plans.

The Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner is named after the former New York governor, a Democrat and the first Roman Catholic to be nominated for president by a major party in 1928. He went on to lose by a wide margin to Republican challenger Herbert Hoover.

The event has become a tradition for presidential candidates since Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy attended together in 1960.

Trump and Joe Biden both spoke at the fundraiser in 2020, when it was held remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of the arrangement, each candidate used their speech to appeal directly to Catholic voters rather than the usual comedic format. Then-candidate Trump also attended the dinner with Hilary Clinton in 2020.

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