With her victory in the primary race, Democrat Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts will become the state's first ever black representative in Congress.

Though she won a major upset in the race for a House seat in Massachusetts on Tuesday night, Ayanna Pressley was not endorsed by the Democratic establishment. Nor was she endorsed by members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Now, it’s not entirely unusual for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) or heavy hitters from the party to fail to endorse in a primary—preferring instead to wait until the general election. But this was a particularly interesting set of circumstances.

Pressley, who doesn’t have a Republican opponent in the general election, now becomes the first black elected official to represent Massachusetts in Congress. She went up against a 10-term incumbent, a white male who was backed by both Rep. John Lewis and former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick. She was running in a year where a record number of women and people of color are on the ballot for the Democrats. She was running during a midterm election when Democrats have the opportunity to shake up the status quo and remind the country that it is diversity and equality, not white supremacy, that make America great. She was also running at a time where Democrats have recently given lip-service to the fact that black women are the party’s faithful base and that black voters, as a whole, should never be taken for granted.

Given these things, it’s curious how Democrats have fallen so short when it comes to endorsing and investing in black women as candidates. Last month, a Broadly article noted that out of 73 candidates on the DCCC’s Red to Blue list, which contains the names of House contenders who are likely to flip seats from red to blue this year, only 3 were black women. This means that other black women running for Congress who don’t have the DCCC’s support can lose out on funding for outreach and attention from donors. In short, it puts them in an uphill battle in their races, especially when they are running in primaries against long-serving establishment incumbents.

Though there are likely many reasons why this is happening, it’s hard to ignore the fact that Democrats have done a lousy job in recognizing the power of black voters and investing in black leadership, especially that of black women—as both leaders of the Democratic National Committee and as candidates. Some of this may also be attributed to the fact that a number of these candidates represent a more progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Recently, the black political left has been gaining much attention. While they’ve always been present in local and national politics, a number of progressive black men and women candidates have been unexpectedly winning elections in local and state races across the country.