U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes is not a member of the historically black sororities and fraternities known as the “Divine Nine.”

But throughout her hotly contested re-election campaign this year, Hayes, the first black woman to represent Connecticut in Congress, has at times felt like a sorority buddy, the term used by black Greek organizations to refer to to the sorority sisters. On their own, members have shown up to call voters, host fundraisers, knock on doors, cheer on Hayes at campaign events and even offer free legal help.

“I had people from Massachusetts come volunteer,” said Hayes, a Democrat seeking a fourth term. “I’ve had people who had previously been considering going to a battleground state like Pennsylvania say, ‘No, we’re going to stay here and help in this race in Connecticut.’”

Down-ballot candidates like Hayes, particularly Black women, have benefited from a surge in support this year from volunteers who happen to be members of Black Greek organizations, many of them energized by Kamala Harris’ presidential bid. The vice president is a longtime member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., which was founded at its alma mater, Howard University, in 1908. Harris pledged AKA as a senior at Howard in 1986.

Known collectively as the National Panhellenic Council, the nine historically black sororities and fraternities are nonpartisan and prohibited from endorsing candidates due to their status as nonprofit organizations. The organizations focus on voter registration drives, civic engagement, and non-election initiatives and are careful not to favor a particular candidate. But many of the groups’ members, as individuals, have been “extremely active” in federal and state elections across the country this year, said Jaime R. Harrison, chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

“I think that’s part of the Kamala Harris effect,” Harrison said during a recent visit to Connecticut.

There were women affiliated with all D9 sororities on a recent get-out-the-vote bus tour of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland to support Black women on the ballot.

Together with other volunteers, they knocked on hundreds of doors, made thousands of calls and sent hundreds of postcards, urging people to vote. The trip was organized by the Higher Heights for America PAC, a nearly 13-year-old organization that works to elect progressive black women.

Members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. showed off their crimson and cream colors while campaigning in Maryland for the Democratic candidate for the United States Senate. Angela Alsbrooksa fellow Deltan who is in a closely watched race against former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan.

Volunteers who are members of the D9 sorority also campaigned for the Democratic Party. US Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware, an honorary member of Alpha Kappa Alpha who is running for the United States Senate. If both candidates were elected, it would mark the first time two black women having served in the Senate simultaneously.

Latosha Johnson, a social worker from Hartford, recently participated in a phone banking session to get votes for Hayes along with other black women who, like her, are members of Alpha Kappa Alpha. He said many black and brown voters have realized that the stakes are high in the election. And if Harris wins, she will need allies in Congress, Johnson said.

“If we don’t get you a Congress that can make changes,” Johnson said, “that becomes difficult.”

Hayes is in a rematch against former Republican George Logan, a former state senator who identifies as Afro-Latino but has not seen strong support from D9 members, according to his campaign.

Both Harris and former President Donald Trump are courting black voters in the final days of the presidential race. The Harris campaign has expressed concern about a lack of electoral enthusiasm among black men.

While Republicans have made some progress black voterstwo-thirds still identify as Democrats. About 2 in 10 identify as independent. About 1 in 10 identify as Republican, according to a recent poll by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Voter registration and nonpartisan get-out-the-vote efforts by sororities and fraternities, along with the mobilization of individual members, could potentially have an impact on some of these races, said Darren Davis, a political science professor at the University of Notre Dame.

“In local elections, in state elections, where the black vote is more powerful and concentrated than in national elections, D9 organizations have this tremendous untapped capacity to reach out to disaffected voters and mobilize them,” Davis said.

D9 fraternal groups were founded on U.S. college campuses in the early 20th century, when black students faced racial prejudice and exclusion that prevented them from joining existing white sororities and fraternities. In a tradition that continues today, the organizations focused on mutual improvement, educational and personal achievement, civic engagement, and a lifelong commitment to community service.

Many of the fraternities and sororities served as training grounds for future civil rights leaders, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks.

Brandon McGee, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., is a former Democratic state representative who now leads the Connecticut Social Equity Council on Cannabis. As a father of two daughters, he is excited to help Harris and Hayes win.

“I want my babies to see me working for a woman who looks like their mother. And even beyond looking like her mother, a woman,” he said. “And I want my babies to know, ‘You can do the same.’”