The numbers are in and the message is clear: Women of color won the midterms. The significance of this victory is bigger than you think. Women of color beat Republicans to win congressional seats and sealed a Democratic majority in the House. The Democrats now have the ability to check Donald Trump. In addition to changing the face of power, women of color enter Congress with organizing chops and powerful visions for social justice.

This election was a mandate from the new American majority to enact a politics of accountability where our government is pushed to represent Americans who for too long have been left out.

No doubt, women of color won with historic firsts: the first Muslim woman elected to Congress; the first black woman from Massachusetts to go to Congress; the youngest person ever elected to Congress; just to name a few.

But we can’t ignore that women of color won this year by organizing on the ground, reaching out to communities of color, and subsequently inspiring a record number of voters (for a midterm election) to go to the polls. These women of color represent a new hope for the multiracial progressive majority of voters that is growing every day as the country becomes more diverse.

Women of color were the architects of democratic innovations this year in states like Georgia, Texas and Florida — showing that on-the-ground organizing, and a focus on registering people of color, makes victory possible (or at least closer) for groundbreaking, progressive candidates.

In Georgia, Stacey Abrams launched one of the most comprehensive deep organizing efforts in the state’s election history — hiring more than a dozen organizers a full year and a half before the election to work across “red” and “blue” areas of the state. In Texas, Michelle Tremillo of the Texas Organizing Project led the effort to close the Republican vote gap from 16 percent in 2012 to a mere 3 percent. If they continue their work there, they are on track to turn Texas blue in 2020.

This is why I founded an organization called She the People — a national network connecting women of color to transform our democracy. A strong social justice policy agenda, combined with candidates of color, inspires voters to turn out in record numbers and shows that social justice can, in fact, become the law of the land.

We are proving, one election at a time, that electoral strategies that explicitly reflect and engage people of color in both blue and red districts is the only way forward for Democrats to win. That’s how organizers nearly flipped Texas for Beto O’Rourke in the Senate race and why Abrams is on the razor’s edge of victory in the governor’s race in “blood-red” Georgia.

Even in states where Democrats fell short with candidates, the diverse, progressive coalition I call the New American Majority voted for a politics of justice by passing measures in favor of voter enfranchisement, higher wages, Medicaid expansion, criminal justice reform, and legalizing medical marijuana. Voters in Michigan, Missouri and Colorado voted for independent commissions to take over redistricting and hopefully end gerrymandering by political power brokers. Amendment 4 passed in Florida and restored voting rights to 1.2 million Florida residents with felony records.

Here’s what we can and should expect: Not only will we have a record year for representation, but we will see more women of color in leadership, and a stronger progressive movement in Washington, D.C.

Consider Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., who was elected in 2016, a master organizer who emerged from the immigrants rights movements. She has quickly ascended to a leadership role as vice chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and co-founded the Medicare for All caucus to push for change.

Consider that Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland — a progressive stalwart — is running for Democratic Caucus chair, an opportunity to make history as the first black woman in congressional party leadership of either party thanks to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s defeat of incumbent Joe Crowley. That win would be another vehicle for Rep. Lee to assert her long-standing progressive values — remember she was the lone vote against the failed war in Iraq — in the heart of the party.

And consider that the venerated Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, one of the sharpest critics of President Trump, is now in line to chair the Finance Committee, a body that is poised to launch an investigation into Trump’s financial dealings.

The new energy of the women of color entering the House combined with the experienced roles that women of color are already playing show that a new — and winning — era for the progressive movement is upon us.

Now that Democrats have won the House, they must win the battle for civil and human rights. Women of color will lead that effort, without conceding to the conventions of old party politics.

Aimee Allison is president of Democracy in Color and founder of She the People. To comment, submit your letter to the editor at SFChronicle.com/letters.