After former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris debated Tuesday night on ABC News, Trump-supporting social media users claimed that the debate moderators favored Harris.
The right-wing website World Net Daily’s X account claimed on Wednesday that Harris was “sorority sisters” with Linsey Davis, an ABC News anchor and one of the two moderators for the debate, alongside David Muir.
“Debate conflict of interest with ABC moderator Linsey Davis CONFIRMED,” the account tweeted to its nearly 70,000 followers on Wednesday. “She is a sorority sister of Kamala Harris, and even confirmed it on a live broadcast 3 1/2 years ago.”
Attached to the X post was a video clip from ABC News’ coverage of President Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration on January 20, 2021. In the clip, George Sephanopolous asked Davis about Harris’ pearl earrings at the inauguration, explaining that it related to her college sorority, adding that Davis belonged to the same sorority.
“It’s a sorority thing, I don’t understand it at all,” Stephanopolous said. “So you have to explain it to everybody—you’re a sorority sister of Kamala Harris.”
“Right, well, you know, pearls are a symbol of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., which she pledged while she was at Howard University, and the strand of pearls is symbolic of the unity and the sisterhood,” Davis responded.
This claim—that Harris was sorority sisters with Davis—was repeated in a video message posted to TikTok by user Seevest Gardens, who has 30,000 followers. “So, I’m finding out this morning that the, one of the moderators—the lady that was up there—was actually Kamala’s sorority sister,” she said.
This video, which received 2.2 million views on TikTok alone, was later reposted onto other social media platforms, including X and Instagram. The right-wing X account Libs of TikTok reshared both the World Net Daily tweet and Gardens’ message. “So it turns out the totally unbiased ABC moderator Linsey Davis and Kamala Harris are sorority sisters!” the account tweeted to its 3.4 million followers. “Interesting.”
While the claim is technically true, the above posts leave out vital context. Both Harris and Davis were members of Alpha Kappa Alpha—but they attended different universities, and Davis graduated from college more than decade after Harris.
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority’s national website directs internet users to a pop-up video message, honoring Harris’ presidential nomination. “Congratulations to our sister, Kamala D. Harris!”
Speaking at a congregation for the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority’s national organization in July, Harris mentioned her personal connection to the sorority. “As many of you know, this sisterhood has been a part of my life since my earliest days, starting with my aunt, Ms. Christine Simmons, who was initiated in 1950 at Howard University,” she said.
Harris graduated from Howard, a private university in Washington, D.C., in 1986.
According to an article in UVA Today, a publication of the University of Virginia, Davis—a 1999 graduate from the university—was also a member of UVA’s Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority chapter during her time in college.
Alpha Kappa Alpha has more than 360,000 inducted members across its 1,074 chapters, with locations in all 50 U.S. states and 10 other countries, per the sorority’s national website.
The Dispatch Fact Check has reached out to ABC News, Alpha Kappa Alpha’s national headquarters, and the sorority’s Theta Kappa chapter at UVA for comment regarding Davis’ affiliation with the sorority.
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