Back in September, Cory Booker‘s campaign raised the alarm in an email to supporters: If fundraising didn’t pick up in the next 10 days—to the tune of $2 million—the senator did “not see a legitimate long-term path forward.” That crisis was averted, and Booker qualified for the October and November Democratic debates. Now, with less than three months to go until the Iowa caucuses, Booker‘s campaign is again staring down the barrel. And if a speech by Booker in Iowa Thursday is any indication, it’s in part looking to Kamala Harris’s recently shuttered candidacy to save itself.

Speaking in Iowa, Booker repeated a common refrain since Harris bowed out: He lamented that a diverse Democratic field has come to focus on a top tier of four white politicians—Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Pete Buttigieg. “What message is that sending, that we heralded the most diverse field in our history, and now we’re seeing people like [Harris] dropping out of this campaign,” he said. “Not because Iowa voters had a choice—voters did not determine her destiny.” He added, in a dig at Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer, “It is a problem that we now have an overall campaign...that has more billionaires in it than black people.”

Like Booker, Harris joined the field earlier this year with high name recognition and high expectations. But her momentum flagged amid internal divisions in her campaign, progressives’ critiques of her record as a prosecutor, and hazy messaging. She suspended her campaign on Tuesday. But supporters and even fellow candidates—some of whom have floated her as a potential running mate—have since argued that she was held to a higher standard than some of her rivals, including Buttigieg, the 37-year-old South Bend, Indiana, mayor who has become an unlikely top-tier candidate, despite his relative inexperience and his struggles to build inroads with black voters. “The way that the media treated Senator Harris in this campaign has been something else,” Julian Castro, another 2020 contender, said in an interview after her departure, saying she’d been held to an unfair “double standard.”

With the prospect of an entirely white debate stage now looming, Booker is attempting to re-energize his campaign. Though they’ve emphasized that they’re not trying to capitalize on Harris’ exit, Booker aides indicated to the Associated Press that the end of her campaign could be a chance for the candidate to champion a broader coalition. “We have all the kindling on the fire,” said campaign manager Addisu Demissie. “All it takes is one match, and I think we will take off.” As expected, Booker praised Harris, describing her as a candidate to whom “little girls and boys and people all around the country looked up and said, ‘That could be me.” He also emphasized the importance of a diverse field, telling supporters that “this is not about one candidate.... It is about the diverse coalition that is necessary to beat Donald Trump. That is the story of how we beat bullies and demagogues.”

A donor with direct knowledge of the communications told the AP that Booker’s campaign was also reaching out to Harris’s donor network, hoping to pick up some much-needed cash. However, that donor added, at least some in Harris’s network were “more inclined to move toward Joe Biden or Buttigieg.” Booker’s message of hope and unity, they said, is a little too rosy to match the Democratic Party’s current mood. One source told the AP that Booker staffers were dusting off their résumés, “considering their next steps in case Booker’s campaign ends soon.”

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