NABJ in talks with VP Kamala Harris’ team for Q&A session in September

By Madison Hamilton

The National Association of Black Journalists said it is in conversation with Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign team to schedule a Q&A session in September, in an updated statement.

According to the statement, the conversion could happen either in-person or virtually. In an earlier statement, NABJ President Ken Lemon said the organization was communicating with Harris’ team about doing an in-person panel before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, but were told by her campaign at the time that her schedule could not accommodate the request.

“The last update we were provided (earlier this week) was that Harris would not be available in person or virtually during our Convention,” Lemon said in the statement.

Also in the statement, Lemon said the organization was in talks with both the Democratic and Republican parties since January.

Lemon said that since 1976, it has been customary to invite presidential candidates from major political parties to attend in-person.

“I consulted with a group of our Founders and past NABJ Presidents Tuesday on-site in Chicago, and as a group, we affirmed that the invitation to Former President Trump was in line with NABJ’s usual practices since 1976,” Lemon said.

Tia Mitchell, NABJ Political task force chair and Washington correspondent for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, took to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, and said she was the connector between NABJ and the presidential candidates.

She created a thread on X to make clarifications surrounding Harris not attending this year’s NABJ Convention.

I’m unprotecting my tweets to address this and fill in some details. Because I know @AprilDRyan’s tweet below will gain traction. And there is some context missing. pic.twitter.com/NE5ny4OhfP

— Tia "Very Calm Sis" Mitchell (@TIAreports) July 31, 2024

Mitchell explained that Harris could not attend in-person due to scheduling conflicts. As an alternative, Mitchell said she suggested bringing someone like Megan Thee Stallion, a surrogate in Atlanta, but that idea fell through after receiving no response.

Lemon said he wants to make it clear that NABJ invited both Harris and Trump to this year’s convention to speak with Black journalists and they are not endorsing either parties. “While we acknowledge the concerns expressed by our members, we believe it is important for us to provide our members with the opportunity to hear directly from candidates and hold them accountable.”