Source: Politics
Alpha Kappa Alpha, the historically Black sorority that counts Vice President Kamala Harris as one of its most notable alumni, has created a political action committee, an unusual venture by a sorority rallying around the chance to send one of its own to the White House.
AKA is part of a collective of the country’s oldest and most prestigious sororities and fraternities known as the “Divine Nine,” whose network of more than 2 million alumni represents a massive political force among a constituency that both parties are hoping to mobilize ahead of November’s election.
When Harris was announced as Joe Biden’s running mate back in 2020, their campaign was flooded with thousands of donations of $19.08 — a reference to the year of Alpha Kappa Alpha’s founding.
In office, Harris hosted a visit of the Divine Nine leaders at the White House, the first time they had all been invited there to meet with a president or vice president, POLITICO reported in 2021. Leaders of the Divine Nine have visited the White House or met with Biden or Harris routinely since then — including as recently as May, as Biden sought to shore up his support among Black voters.
Last month, after Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris, every Divine Nine president pledged in a statement to “meet this critical moment in history with an unprecedented voter registration, education and mobilization coordinated campaign.” The statement did not mention specific candidates or parties.
The Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority PAC, Inc., or AKA 1908 PAC, will be able to accept donations of up to $5,000 from members of the sorority and their families to support federal campaigns and political parties. Kiahna Davis, a regional director at AKA for the Central region, is listed as the PAC’s treasurer. Neither Davis nor the PAC responded to a request for comment.
Harris has long spoken fondly of AKA — whose members she has likened to “family” — along with the other Divine Nine sororities and fraternities.
The vice president’s first public event after becoming the de facto Democratic nominee was an appearance at a national gathering for another Divine Nine sorority, Zeta Phi Beta, and she addressed Alpha Kappa Alpha’s gathering, or Boulé, earlier this summer. And a rally she held in Atlanta shortly afterward featured just a small sampling of Divine Nine alumni in political power.
AKA isn’t the only Greek organization with a federal fundraising operation. Phi Beta Sigma, a Divine Nine fraternity, operates a PAC, and fraternity and sorority leaders founded the Fraternity & Sorority Political Action Committee in 2005 to support candidates “who defend and enhance the fraternity and sorority experience.”