Politico reports:

When a group of Black women political organizers assembled for a regular Zoom call on Sunday, they suddenly had a new mission. A mere hours earlier, President Joe Biden had ended his reelection bid and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor. Interest in the call had skyrocketed, and some 40,000 attendees logged on.

The Win With Black Women collective, nervous that Harris would be facing competition, ferociously pushed back on the idea of an open primary in the wake of Biden’s announcement. Organizers urged attendees that there was “no time to waste” and that they must tout Harris’ record. Although the vice president had been in the public eye for years, she was still relatively unknown to the public.

Discussions on the call marshaled a defense of Harris — “it’s a thing to have MAGA world chasing you” and “we need to defend our sister,” according to meeting notes shared with POLITICO — and perhaps more importantly, raised a lot of money.

The Win With Black Women call became a blueprint for other identity-based groups over the week — Black men, Latinas, Black queer men, white women, white men and young voters. Calls like these were never really available to Biden because the base’s enthusiasm for him had faded. Each group held their own call to boost Harris and raise mountains of cash for Harris’ campaign. Celebrities, including Pink, Mindy Kaling and Don Cheadle, logged on to various calls to lend their support to Harris.

The copycat calls were an early sign that Harris’ campaign isn’t just inspiring to Black women, who shared an identity with her. Her nascent campaign is reactivating dormant parts of the Democratic base to act as surrogates, door-knockers and fundraisers in a way that President Joe Biden couldn’t.

The Black women collective — which is not directly affiliated with the Harris campaign — first assembled in 2020 around the time Biden selected her as his vice president. It helps recruit and advocate for Black women in politics, and soon realized that the Harris candidacy had the opportunity to inspire the sort of grassroots excitement not seen since Barack Obama arrived on the scene nearly two decades ago. [Continue reading…]