Kamala Harris appears to have one more group backing her campaign today, with which she has a deep history.
Alpha Kappa Alpha, the historically Black sorority Harris joined as a student at Howard University, filed paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission on Friday to launch a PAC, ahead of the 2024 race.
The sorority, which already boasts a voter mobilization operation filed to create the “AKA AKA 1908 PAC,” connected to the organization’s Chicago headquarters.
With over a thousand national chapters, Alpha Kappa Alpha is the largest of the Divine Nine members, a grouping of historically Black fraternities and sororities with 2.5 million members nationwide and a tradition of civic and political engagement.
Harris, a proud Alpha Kappa Alpha member, spoke last month at the group’s annual conference in Dallas to crowds donning the group’s signature salmon pink and apple green, and championing the sorority’s impact on her career’s trajectory.
The powerful group, which raised hundreds of thousands of dollars and “Strolled to the Polls” for Harris in 2020, is in a position to mobilize millions of Black voters in key swing states across the country.
Black voters are enthusiastic about Harris’ candidacy, with a recent NPR/PBS/Marist poll showing an explosive gain from a 23-point lead in July amongst Black voters to a 54-point lead with Harris at the top of the ticket.
Still, despite her AKA membership and racial background, opponent Donald Trump has spent the last week accusing Harris of “turn[ing] Black,” a claim which many Black political figures pushed back against.