Joe Biden’s core electoral strength in last year’s presidential election was the “metropolitan majority” of the country’s biggest urban cores, combined with their surrounding suburbs.
This city-suburban coalition — driven by Black and Latino voters, suburban women, college-educated workers and older voters — propelled Biden to the White House. And his success in growing Sun Belt metros like Atlanta, Phoenix, Charlotte and Houston point the way to future electoral growth for Democrats.
Looking broadly at this coalition that drove Democrats to victory, its views toward business are more nuanced than the anti-business rhetoric from some quarters of the party.
Many Biden-Harris voters either work for large companies themselves or recognize the positive role that business plays in creating good jobs and opportunity.
More than one third of adults in counties that flipped from Trump to Biden hold roles in management, computer, legal and other professional fields. Biden’s city-suburb coalition is also driving a major share of the country’s economic activity; Brookings calculated the counties Biden won accounted for fully 70 percent of America’s total economic output. Much of the Biden economic agenda is focused on expanding these gains across more of the country.
But The Wall Street Journal warned many 2020 Biden voters also “backed Republicans for Congress, suggesting that political affiliations in many places remain fluid.”
Given the importance of holding and growing his vote in 2024, one useful step Biden can take is appointing more leaders like Gina Raimondo and Cedric Richmond to roles in his administration.
Raimondo, the former Rhode Island governor who serves as Biden’s commerce secretary, and Richmond, a former New Orleans-area House member who directs the White House Office of Public Engagement, reflect a view that business can be an ally — not an adversary — in achieving Democrats’ goals.
In their administration roles, both Raimondo and Richmond are working to channel business to improve society. Raimondo has promoted women in the boardroom and pushed business leaders to keep an open mind on increasing corporate taxes. Richmond has led the White House’s engagement with CEOs.
While Raimondo and Richmond recognize the job creation role played by American companies, their engagement with the private sector is a two-way street. From climate change to taxes to paid leave, Biden’s emissaries are also prodding business to exemplify a new breed of corporate citizenship — one that takes care of workers, communities and the environment.
If Biden wants to continue channeling the private sector toward the public good, he’d do well to appoint more leaders like Raimondo and Richmond to his administration.
Adam Kovacevich is a former public policy executive for Google and Lime, former Democratic congressional and campaign aide, and a longtime tech policy strategist.
