Identify the option that could substitute the underlined word in the sentence below, without affecting its contextual relevance.

It took about five seconds after Nancy Pelosi stepped aside for New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries to coalesce support behind him in a bid to become the new House Democratic leader—he is on track to become the first Black party leader in congressional history.

The sentence in question is: 

“It took about five seconds after Nancy Pelosi stepped aside for New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries to combine support behind him in a bid to become the new House Democratic leader—he is on track to become the first Black party leader in congressional history.”

The verb “combine” means to unite or merge different elements into a single whole. It is synonymous with “coalesce,” which means coming together or uniting. Therefore, Option D is the correct answer.

Other options like “conjoin,” “collaborate,” and “conjugate” do not fit the context:

Option A: Conjoin means to join together, but it doesn’t capture the sense of merging or uniting support.
Option B: Collaborate implies working together on a project or task, which is not the intended meaning.
Option C: Conjugate refers to verb forms in grammar and is unrelated to the context.