The Alabama Democratic Conference announced that presidential candidate U.S. Senator Kamala Harris, D-California, will be the keynote speaker at a luncheon during the group’s 59th annual convention.
Harris will be the keynote speaker at the Kennedy-Johnson-King luncheon on Saturday, June 8. The ADC Convention 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 20 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 I.D. with voters. Harris hopes that as voters become more familiar with her that they will increasingly gravitate toward her campaign.
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 Representative 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.
The Alabama Presidential Primary will be on Tuesday, March 3. Alabama will have 46 delegates at the Democratic National Convention. In the 2016 Donald Trump was elected over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Alabama. It has been 43 years since a Democratic presidential nominee carried the state of Alabama.
