The 2024 election will change how American politicians think about race

Race has long been a source of unpredictable energy in American politics, the subject of coded language and dog whistles as elections have turned variously on bigotry and solidarity. That’s been true for a lifetime. American racial politics settled into a kind of ugly equilibrium after former white Democratic segregationists became Republicans and Black voters fled their party for the heirs to Lyndon Johnson’s civil rights coalition. Now the 2024 election was clearly — take heed, liberals looking for a silver lining — the least racially polarized in a generation. Trump made deep inroads into historically Democratic, working-class Mexican-American districts, and appears to have blunted Kamala Harris’ edge with Black voters. He did it without releasing the sort of focused policy proposals (the “Platinum Plan”) he did in 2020 and without promising any further action on his signature First Step Act, which softened harsh criminal justice policies. Some voted for him, some may simply have stayed home. Instead, he campaigned through symbolism and outreach to men who didn’t go to college. One of the most surprising things I read this cycle was Kadia Goba’s journey through Trump’s campaign for Black men. It read a little like comedy. Once she convinced...