As Democrats encouraged President Biden to step out of the 2024 race, there was an uneasiness among Black Americans who were worried it was too late in the game to switch it up with a candidate who could beat the threat of another Trump presidency. But that tepidness was gone soon after President Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee.

More than 44,000 Black women joined a call that same night to be in community, find strength in each other, and get organized to defeat MAGA extremism. So many women joined that they had to call the CEO of Zoom to get their engineers to extend the 1000-person meeting limit. 

Jennifer Wells, an Alabama voter and the Director of Economic Justice at Community Change Action, said she was somber and uneasy after hearing the news on Sunday that Biden had decided not to seek reelection. After he endorsed Harris, she said “I began to see a little bit of light, but I’ll be honest — it really wasn’t settling in my spirit. Partially because this is yet another moment that I felt a Black woman was going to have to pick up the pieces and solve a problem or fix a mess.”

But the call was “the food my soul needed,” Wells said. “I felt a need for community I had never felt before.”

The call started with folks looking for reassurance, and by the end — some staying on until past 1:00 AM ET — they got it. 

“I experienced something I haven’t felt in a long time,” Rebecca Thompson, an organizer with Community Change Action who also joined the call, said. “For months, I was feeling really anxious and discouraged — but as someone who’s been in politics since they were 14 years old, I’ve been waiting for this moment for my entire life and career.”

The call resulted in $1.5 million in contributions to support Harris. All in all, Harris’ campaign raised over $81 million in less than 24 hours of her campaign’s announcement — the biggest day in presidential campaign donations ever. That number shot up to $100 million by Monday night. And many of those were small dollar donations from folks — 62 percent who had never donated to a political campaign before.

“People are showing up with their dollars and their energy and have completely shifted the conversation about what’s at stake in November and the fact that Kamala can win,” Thompson said.

In this same short time period, more than 28,000 people joined the volunteer base for the Harris campaign. On Community Change Action’s relational organizing call, people contacted their friends and family to update their voter registration. College students asked how they could change their address to their new campus locations. Gen Z exploded with supportive edits on TikTok. Community Change Action announced their endorsement of Vice President Harris for President on Monday.

“I’m feeling really hopeful and excited to make sure child care is a central issue in the November election,” Thompson said.

In her first speeches as a 2024 presidential candidate, Harris has already centered child care, paid leave, housing, and reproductive justice in her priorities — all issues that disproportionately impact Black women voters.

“Everyone had a word of power and strength to keep us going through this iconic moment,” Nechelle Jordan, a project manager at Community Change Action who also joined the call, said. Jordan said she stayed on the call until past one in the morning, when there were still over 20,000 people on the line — from members of Congress to HBCU members. “I was soaking up the love, the unity, and the inspiration.” Jordan said.

Two days after an unprecedented switch-up, it’s clear the feeling among many Black voters has shifted from uncertainty to hope and action — the makings of a winning movement for a future that can defeat fascism.