As Kamala Harris heads into the November presidential race against Donald Trump, a social club she joined in college four decades ago might just pay its biggest dividends yet.
“Whatever it is that she needs our coalitions to do, we’re going to be there to help push it out and get it done,” said Tanya Baham, a member of Harris’s college sorority, in attendance at the recent Democratic National Convention.
Sororities and fraternities abound across US college campuses — with their Greek-letter names, exclusive memberships, and promise of community, usually along same-sex lines.
But Harris’s membership in Alpha Kappa Alpha, a historically Black sorority, provides her campaign a direct line to a network of 360,000 women across the country, many of whom are excited to see one of their own in the White House.
And the Democratic Party, which counts women and Black voters as key constituencies in their electoral …