Harris coalition takes shape with ‘new energy’ from fraying Biden alliance

Democratic excitement over Kamala Harris is giving way to the urgent work of building a winning coalition after a year spent trying to shore up Biden’s fraying one.

For Charity Dean, the weight of the presidential race is suddenly a bit heavier as she moves beyond the exhaustion of a rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump to a fresh start with Vice President Kamala Harris as the presumptive Democratic nominee. “It’s refreshing. There’s a new energy that we didn’t have previously,” said Dean, who owns a coffee shop in northwest Detroit. “Folks that were not interested in a Biden-Trump race are definitely interested now that we have the vice president on the top of the ticket.” A week after Harris secured enough delegate support to effectively lock down the Democratic nomination, the whirlwind of excitement coursing through the party is giving way to the urgent work of building a Harris coalition – after spending a year trying to shore up Biden’s fraying one. “It’s not just we have an opportunity to make history,” said Dean, who also leads the Michigan Black Business Alliance. “It’s also, ‘Oh my gosh, what happens if we don’t?’” Michigan will be a critical laboratory for how the Harris campaign builds and sustains its coalition and the degree to which it will look different from Biden’s winning 2020 alliance that he struggled to keep together this year, particularly with younger voters and voters of color. Conversations with more than two dozen voters, party activists and Democratic officials in Detroit and the surrounding communities underscored a surge in interest toward Harris among women, voters of color and younger voters. It’s an open question how her support holds among independent voters and rank-and-file labor union members, particularly as Trump and Republican groups race to define her.