Her absence will make her the second major-party candidate to decline an invitation in over six decades—the first being Democrat Walter Mondale in 1984.

Vice President Kamala Harris will skip the Al Smith dinner next month in New York, her campaign announced. The charity roast, scheduled for Oct. 17, traditionally serves as a highlight of the final stretch of the presidential campaign and is usually a forum for jokes about rival candidates and even self-deprecating laugh lines.