Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) has made it a point to stay connected to her Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority throughout her political rise. | Al Drago/Getty Images 2020 Elections Kamala Harris’ hidden army Thanks to her HBCU connections, the California senator is well positioned in the key early state of South Carolina.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — When Kamala Harris makes her first trip this year to South Carolina on Friday, she’ll be surrounded by thousands of potential voters at a fundraiser hosted by a group of the state’s most powerful voting bloc: black women.

The California senator won’t have to make a hard sell at the annual “Pink Ice Gala” — as a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, she already has a powerful connection to the organizers.


Harris pledged the sorority — the oldest Greek-letter organization established by African-American college-educated women — as a student at Howard University. Now, more than three decades later, she is leaning on the group’s influential network to advance her prospects in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.

In South Carolina, where there are eight historically black colleges and universities and nearly 4-in-10 Democratic primary voters are black women, according to 2016 exit polls, the AKA advantage amounts to an army of potential surrogates for the first-term senator.

“She’s uniquely positioned,” said Antjuan Seawright, a South Carolina-based Democratic strategist. “I think that’s a built-in infrastructure that not a lot of people come to.”

Morning Score newsletter Your guide to the permanent campaign — weekday mornings, in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Harris is the only black woman running in a crowded field that’s expected to include more than 20 candidates. And, as a graduate of Howard University, she’s the only top-tier presidential candidate who’s an HBCU alum.

She’s incorporated those credentials into her campaign. Harris’ first stop after launching her bid on “Good Morning America” on Martin Luther King Jr. Day was Howard, where she joined the 300,000-member strong sorority as an undergrad and graduated in 1986. In 2017, Harris returned to Howard to deliver the school’s keynote commencement address.

“Some people are asking why are you bringing everyone together here,” she told reporters Monday during her most recent campus appearance. “And it is because Howard University is one of the most important aspects of my life, and it is where I first ran for my first elected office.”

On Friday, Harris will speak at the local AKA chapter’s Pink Ice Gala at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds. The event — which is expected to draw at least 3,000 attendees — is a major fundraiser that supports scholarships and community service.

“People are really excited about that and people are talking about the fact that President Obama came to Pink Ice the year he ran,” said Tameika Isaac Devine, a Columbia City councilwoman who’s also a member of a black sorority. “That certainly has gotten a lot of folks excited.”

Harris has made it a point to stay connected to her sorority throughout her political rise. She speaks regularly with her line sisters, many of whom attended her book event this month in Washington and greeted her with the sorority’s traditional “skee-wee.” The senator also attended the AKA Boule, a biennial summer conference, last year in Texas.

“That will play in this election, no question about it. I think that people ought to really be aware that that’s a very, very important aspect here in the black community,” House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), who will attend the gala with his wife, said of the black Greek ties. Clyburn is a member of the black fraternity Omega Psi Phi.

“And the extent to which she can make that connection, she’s gonna do well,” he added. “And if I were Cory [Booker], I would remind people that my roots are in them, too.”

Both Harris and Sen. Booker are considered early front-runners in South Carolina, where more than 60 percent of Democratic voters are African-American.

During Booker’s visit to the state in October, he found himself in a room with members of Delta Sigma Theta, another black sorority founded at Howard. Its membership is about the same size as AKA but includes Booker’s mother. He called himself “a proud son of a Delta” in a tweet commemorating the sorority’s Founders’ Day earlier this month.

“He made a point to tell us of that Delta connection and so then we ended up having conversations about HBCUs and particularly black women,” recalled Devine, who is a member of the Delta sorority.

“I don’t think that people are going to vote for one or the other just because so and so’s mom’s a Delta or so and so’s an AKA. Clearly, I think the AKAs will certainly want to rally behind Sen. Harris and help her,” Devine said. “But I think that people will look past that. That might initially open the door, but I think they’re gonna look past some of that to figure out are they truly speaking to my issues.”

The mission and the values of the sorority are what drew her to AKA membership in college, said Harris‘ spokeswoman, Kirsten Allen, who is also an AKA.

“And now it’s exciting to lean on that sisterhood and also be able to go into that sisterhood and know that they have a shared experience,” she said.

Jaime Harrison, the former chairman of the state Democratic Party, said every advantage will matter in a contest featuring a sprawling field of candidates.

“If you got family from South Carolina, then you sure damn well better use them and let people know about those ties,” he said. “I’m sure that Kamala and Cory and all of the candidates will do everything that they can to hype up the things that they see are pluses of their résumés. And that’s what you’re supposed to do in a contest, particularly one in which you have 20-plus people get into it. You try to mark how you’re different and try to build that local connection, that having people to be able to relate to you because you can relate to a shared experience.”

Christopher Cadelago contributed to this report.