Presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-California, announced Tuesday she will campaign in Alabama and South Carolina later this week.
This is her first campaign swing through Alabama. Harris will focus on engaging women and African-Americans in Birmingham and Montgomery. On Friday night, she will hold a women’s meet and greet in the Birmingham area, where she is expected to denounce the recent Alabama abortion ban law, HB314.
UPDATED 6/5 at 10:30 am: the Women’s Meet and Greet event will be at the Hilton Birmingham at UAB, 808 20th St S, Birmingham, AL 35205 Friday night at 7:00 PM CT
On Saturday, she will be the keynote speaker at the Alabama Democratic Conference Kennedy-Johnson-King Luncheon. The Alabama Democratic Conference is the state’s largest African-American political organization. Even though no Democratic presidential nominee has carries Alabama in a general election since 1976, Alabama will award 52 delegates to the Democratic presidential primary.
This will be the ADC’s 59th annual convention.
The ADC will be in Montgomery on June 7 and 8. The convention will be held at Montgomery’s Renaissance Hotel.
Harris is a current U.S. senator and is formerly the California attorney general. She is a graduate of Howard University and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.
Harris is one of at least 23 Democrats vying for the Democratic presidential nomination. Former Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, are the early leaders in the polls, but they enter the race with the greatest name identification with voters.
Harris hopes that as voters become more familiar with her that they will increasingly gravitate toward her campaign. According to Real Clear Politics polling averages, in national polls, Harris is currently in fourth, trailing Biden, Sanders and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts. In Iowa, the first state on the presidential calendar, she is currently in fourth, trailing Biden, Sanders, and Mayor Pete Buttigieg. In New Hampshire, she is currently in fifth, trailing Biden, Sanders, Buttigieg a and Warren.
During the convention, the ADC will hold workshops on voter restoration, voter turnout and voter suppression. There will also be discussions on the Democratic National Convention Delegate Selection Plan.
The Alabama Democratic Conference is chaired by former State Rep. Joe Reed. Reed is best known for his decades-long career as the co-leader of the Alabama Education Association and for his high-profile roles within the Alabama Democratic Party.
The ADC is the voice of minority Democrats in Alabama. It is one of the oldest Democratic groups in the country and is by far the most powerful group in the Alabama Democratic Party coalition. That power has led to jealousy by some Democrats, who blame Reed and the ADC for recent election setbacks for Alabama Democrats.
On Saturday evening, Harris will travel to Columbia, South Carolina, for the South Carolina NAACP’s 2019 Freedom Fund Celebration.
The Alabama Presidential Primary will be on Tuesday, March 3.
