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Vice President Kamala Harris will keynote the NAACP convention on Monday in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the organization’s president told NBC News.
“We could not be more excited to welcome the Vice President to the 113th NAACP Convention,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said on Friday. “Over the last 113 years, we’ve welcomed Presidents and Vice Presidents, from Eisenhower, Kennedy, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, Bush, Biden and Obama. But we’ve never welcomed a Black woman vice president. That is evidence of progress. It is evidence of power.”
The appearance gives Harris a high-profile platform and a friendly audience to speak to as the Biden administration grapples with a host of domestic challenges, including inflation and the ruling striking down Roe v. Wade, with Republicans seeking to capture control of Congress from Democrats in the fall midterm elections.
“The Vice President has been a steady voice in the fight for voting rights, reproductive rights, and other assaults by the far-right on our freedoms,” Johnson added. “We are honored to have the Vice President join us in this critical and pivotal moment for our democracy. It is essential people go out in vote this November, and that will be the focus of this year’s convention.”
The convention is also slated to welcome other prominent officials including Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge, House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., a spokesperson for the NAACP said.
A White House official said that while she’s in New Jersey, Harris plans to convene a roundtable with state legislators and other leaders to discuss protecting reproductive rights, as part of her “ongoing engagement” on the issue after the recent Supreme Court ruling.
The official added that since the end of June, Harris has spoken to several organizations, including NEA, NALEO and Essence Festival of Culture.
