That support has included a posh campaign fundraiser for Beatty and other vulnerable incumbents in late February, hosted at lobbying firm Akin Gump’s seventh-floor office near D.C.'s Eastern Market. CBC members had also planned to drop into Beatty’s central-Ohio district just before the primary, visiting churches to mobilize black voters and hosting an “appreciation party” for Beatty, a vice chair of the CBC, at a jazz club in downtown Columbus.

But all of that was turned on its head as the coronavirus invaded the U.S., forcing Beatty’s colleagues to turn to virtual events to lend their support.

Richmond, House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) called into Beatty’s virtual get-out-the-vote event Sunday. Richmond praised Beatty’s commitment to the CBC and her work in Congress, particularly on the Financial Services Committee for which she chairs the subcommittee on diversity and inclusion.

Beatty's primary is the first salvo in the primary battle between the CBC and liberal groups trying to oust longtime incumbents. Besides Beatty, at least four other members of the caucus in New York and Missouri will face credible primary challengers throughout the summer.

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), chairman of the CBC’s political arm, is a longtime critic of the progressive groups’ approach to primaries and hopes Beatty’s victory on Tuesday will be a shot across the bow to other challengers.

“We worked hard,” Meeks said in an interview. “We’ve done it the old-fashioned way. And so, for people who seem to come out of nowhere, who have done nothing, have nothing to show for, to say, ‘We’re just going to challenge you for the sake of challenging you.’ Does that make sense?”

Meeks added that he has retooled the CBC’s political arm this year to better defend incumbents facing primary challenges. That includes hiring a dedicated political director for the PAC who will help boost digital and on-the-ground operations.

Harper, who said she launched her grassroots campaign last July with “no coordination with the Justice Democrats,” pushed back against the suggestion that her sole purpose was to attack a member of Congress. And Harper has pushed back when pundits have called her out for targeting black lawmakers, at one point, retorting on Twitter: "I am also black."