Following the presidential debate pitting Vice President Kamala Harris against former President Donald Trump, a theory erupted among MAGA supporters that Linsey Davis, a co-moderator of the debate, is a sorority sister to Harris. This has raised online discussions as regards what the nature of the relationship between the two women is and, importantly, what it could imply in the context of political bias.Â
The sorority connection
Linsey Davis is, in fact, a member of the historically Black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. (AKA), founded in 1908 at Howard University. Kamala Harris was part of this very sorority, having joined during her days at Howard. It has, therefore, been the case that some use the phrase “sorority sisters” because Davis and Harris are both members of the same sorority.
Davis crossed the Theta Kappa chapter of AKA during her time at the University of Virginia. Several outlets noted that it means both women are part of a network of more than 360,000 active, living members across the country. But the claim about a close personal relationship between them is a bit more complicated.
Ruling and reactions of the Debate
During the debate, which drew close to 58 million viewers, both Davis and her co-moderator, David Muir, came under attack from different political camps. Trump grumbled that the moderators were in the tank for Harris and didn’t “challenge her when she lied” and online chatter spiked, with some MAGA stalwarts noting that Davis had been in a sorority-the same one, it so happened-to prove the conflict of interest.
In that light, many have declared that the theory of a prejudiced perception against her was irrelevant and that sorority sisterhood did not connote personal attachment. Large membership translated to mean AKA was an organization and nothing more. Critics of the theory mentioned the fact that Harris-Perry and Jezebel attended different universities and belonged to a network with numerous sorority sisters, so stating they were close simply because of sorority affiliation was misleading.
Linsey Davis’s role in the Debate
Linsey Davis has carved out a niche for herself in the ABC News ranks as a fair-and-balanced journalist. She has also been part of the team that reported on many milestone political events, starting with presidential debates since 2019. In this recent debate, Davis’s temperament was dictated by fact-checking, trying to see that accountability was made on both sides-an improvement from previous debates.
Davis’ professionalism and journalistic integrity earned admiration from all quarters, even her colleagues. Yet, the fact that she had to bear such a high level of scrutiny by the supporters of MAGA was a notice of increased political temperature in times when every other journalist was accused of bias for perceived affiliations.
The ramifications of the theory on a larger scale
The sorority connection of Davis and Harris raises a host of intriguing questions about media, politics, and personal identity. In a time of hyper-political polarization, if a journalist can be remotely linked to a politician or another individual in the news, accusations of bias cannot be avoided. As this happens, what started as a seemingly inconsequential event has taken on a life of its own, illustrating many of the personal and professional challenges that face journalists-scholars who report on important political circumstances and events.
Critics of the above theory have therefore emphasized the need to form an enlightened appreciation as to how professional networks would work in large organizations – sororities in this instance. Shared membership would bring a sensation of better cohesion, but of itself it does not connote bias or discrimination at the professional level.
