Kamala Harris’ sorority sisters from Alpha Kappa Alpha traveled from D.C. to Philly to canvas for her

Correction: This article has been corrected to note that, as a nonprofit, Alpha Kappa Alpha does support or endorse political candidates.

With days to go before the election, the push to get voters to go to the polls is far from over.

Growing up during the Donald Trump administration led Victoria Matthews to travel three hours from Washington to Germantown’s Fernhill Park — along with other Howard University students and members of Vice President Kamala Harris’ sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha — to join the volunteers with Working Families Party on Saturday, knocking on more than 5,000 doors for the Democratic ticket.

Matthews was in ninth grade when a boy ran across the stage carrying a Trump flag, interrupting her Mexican American classmate with hostile mannerisms and comments during cultural appreciation week.

“That really put into perspective how who’s in the presidency affects the way that people think that they can act,” said the 20-year-old. “Because how are you expected to do better if the highest order in this country isn’t doing better than anybody else?”

Valerie Bose, Harris’ Alpha Kappa Alpha sister, said she thinks setting a better example won’t be a problem for the vice president.

Some members of sorority have been supporting Harris’ candidacy in multiple states, particularly swing states like Pennsylvania. (The sorority itself is a nonprofit and does not endorse candidates.) But for Bose, fully dressed in Alpha Kappa Alpha’s signature salmon pink, the backing feels more personal.

A Howard University graduate, Bose was initiated into Alpha Kappa Alpha at the same time as Harris.

“You know, [she’s] that person who is calm [when] everyone else is freaking out about the test,” Bose said. “She’s always been able to handle stress with calm, seriousness, and clearheadedness.”

That lucidity is just what Malik Abdul Bey is looking for in an election he calls terrifying.

At 16, Abdul Bey was incarcerated and never got a chance to vote. After three decades behind bars, he believes education could have been life-changing to him and many other people in his situation.

Trump has vowed to shut down the Department of Education if he is elected to a second term.

Abdul Bey believes that Harris is “in touch with our struggles and the paths that lead us to crime in the first place, [including] the lack of education.”

“I may have chosen a different path had I had that, and it’s the same thing now for so many other young men walking around here on these street corners — they don’t feel like there’s anything for them,” said the 48-year-old.

Abdul Bey is canvassing for Harris to give back to the community, hoping she is the kind of person who will help build up the country, he said.

Howard University student Haley Lucas is confident “Auntie Kamala,” as she called her, can do just that, but stresses that all their canvassing work “isn’t a love letter to Kamala.”

“This is more of a chess move,” Lucas said. “It’s opening doors for the future. It’s opening doors for young Black women like me to see spaces that we can occupy.”