In this op-ed, Democracy in Color president Aimee Allison writes why it matters that so many women of color are running in 2018 elections and why they deserve your support.

We are in the midst of primary season. With just a few months until the midterms, there is dramatic potential this year to elect a record number of women to office, including many black women and other women of color. There is also a great opportunity for women of color — along with other voters of color — to not only elect these leaders, but to take back this country by turning traditionally red states blue.

For women of color, our time has finally come.

As Alabama’s December special election between Doug Jones and Roy Moore showed, when black women turned out in droves to elect the state’s first Democratic senator in 25 years (and helped avoid letting an accused child molester into office), the collective votes of this group can turn the tide in our nation’s politics. Leadership from women of color is emerging as what may be the strongest counterpoint to Trump-era politics. By the chairman of the Democratic National Committee’s own admission, black women have been the “backbone of the Democratic Party” for decades yet have received scant recognition for their service and roles. (Still, the organization announced this year that it will endorse a slate of nearly all-white Congressional candidates.)

A powerful example lies in the more than 400 black women running for office this year. There’s also been a surge in Latinx and Asian-American women seeking election, as well as a historic number of Native American women.

For centuries, black women have been fighting to expand voting rights, even over the direct opposition of some white women of the suffragette movement who fought to deny both black women and men the protections of the 19th amendment. It was Ella Baker, the organizer of the Freedom Rides and sit-ins of the 1960s, who developed the Crusade for Citizenship, a movement to register black voters and protect voting rights in the South.

Women of color from many backgrounds have also fought for justice and equity throughout our history. In November 1977, they joined together at the National Women’s Convention to define the first “women of color” agenda. Forty years later, the Women’s March was created and led by a multiracial group of women leaders. Then, and today, women of color have established a strong tradition of organizing across differences.

The women of color running for office this year — and those who stand ready to usher them into office — have been the strongest opponents to President Donald Trump and his agenda. Women of color were the fastest-growing voting bloc in the country in 2014. The number of women of color eligible to vote has increased 55% from 2000 to 2014, according to the Center for American Progress, which also found that the number of white women eligible to vote has increased less than 6% in that same time. Tap into the power of women of color, support their leadership, and we could transform the political landscape for generations to come.

Women of color are poised to make history as leaders in 2018.

Women from the same communities that rebuked Trump in the 2016 election — for example, the 94% of black women who voted for Hillary Clinton, along with 69% of Latinx women and 83% of Asian-American women who did the same — will be on ballots this year in key swing states like Georgia, Texas, Florida, and Arizona.