The Confidants Guiding Harris for the Most Important Days of Her Life

Her revamped presidential campaign has quickly added loyalists from her 2019 primary bid. Her former aides have returned to write a convention speech and see her through a debate against Donald J. Trump. Her sister flew to Washington, joining her as she made a pork roast and marinated over her choices for a running mate.

As Vice President Kamala Harris races through the final weeks of her campaign — the only weeks, really — she is relying on a network of confidants to guide her through the hurdles ahead.

This group looks nothing like President Biden’s tightly held brain trust, a group that was dominated by older white men and family members and grew smaller as he approached the decision to end his campaign. Ms. Harris, by contrast, relies on a multiracial, intergenerational web of about two dozen advisers, friends and relatives, firing up her phone every day to call in favors or ask for advice.

“None of us knew that this moment would come,” said Senator Laphonza Butler, a Democrat from California and one of several Golden State allies of Ms. Harris. But, she added, “when the opportunity presented itself, of course, we were ready to do whatever was asked of us.”

While Ms. Harris has her own inner circle, she was also thrust into a campaign with only a few weeks to make her case to the American people. So she has accepted the help and support of much of Mr. Biden’s team, added a few Obama-era operatives and elevated some loyalists of her own to positions of power.

The message from the top to many of the Biden faithful has been: This is not a hostile takeover, it’s a friendly merger.