Kamala Harris' secret weapon: the Sisters of AKA [View all]

As Kamala Harris sets her sights on the White House, there is perhaps no network better positioned to power her early launch than the women she will address Friday night in South Carolina: her sisters in Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated -- the nation's oldest black sorority.

Formed in 1908 by nine determined women at Howard who believed that college-educated black women could represent "the highest --more education, more enlightenment, and more of everything that the great mass of Negroes never had," they set out with a credo to be "Supreme in service to all mankind."

That mission has stood the test of time as the sorority has expanded to some 300,000 women on college campuses across the country and several continents. Now one of their own is running for president.

Harris will debut in South Carolina Friday night as a newly-minted presidential candidate when she addresses more than 3,000 of her Alpha Kappa Alpha sisters at the Pink Ice Gala in Columbia, an annual event that raises money for scholarships.

These women could become the foot soldiers of a powerful voting bloc. CNN exit polling shows black women supported Democrats more than almost any other voting subgroup, helping drive Democratic wins in last year's midterms. In Harris' case, the sisters of Alpha Kappa Alpha could help her organize in states across the country and open up a unique pipeline for her fundraising appeals within their regions.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/24/politics/kamala-harris-sorority-sisters-south-carolina/index.html