As Virginia’s statewide general election approaches on Tuesday, Nov. 2, let’s remember what happens when Black people get to the polls and vote.

Thanks to Black voters electing champions who work for them in the statehouse, Virginia has passed some of the most significant progressive policies of the last decade, delivering important and long-overdue wins.

This year, Virginia abolished the death penalty, declared racism as a public health crisis and became the first state in the South to pass a Voting Rights Act, expanding voter protections for Virginians and making it easier to access the ballot.

We also passed the South’s first-ever Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights, historic legislation that will ensure that caregivers and home care workers are protected from discrimination and harassment and included in workplace health and safety laws.

Through the years, Virginia also expanded Medicaid access, capped the price that patients pay for insulin at $50 and re-stored the voting rights of more than 200,000 disenfranchised Virginians who were formerly incarcerated. Virginia now has a minimum wage that is the highest in the South and on a path to $15 per hour.

Black voters delivered these wins — and this year we need to deliver the vote.

The results of the November election will have a direct impact on the lives of Black communities for years to come. If we show up and deliver the vote, we’re bound to see more progressive wins for our community. But if we don’t show up, we could see the dismantling of all the progress we have long fought for and deserve. Our votes in this election are a vote for our futures and to protect the progress we have made economically, socially and politically.

As the pandemic rages on, we must continue to fight for jobs, access to health care, paid leave, a living wage and housing security.

In many ways, the economic insecurity simply comes down to poverty wages, barriers to accessible employment and making a tough choice between working or staying home to care for a child or loved one. Many of the jobs that keep our economy moving — care workers, home health aides, child care providers — are done by Black women. Our economic recovery policies must center on them so they, too, can earn a living wage, care for their families and not put their health at risk. But, for this to happen, we need Black voters to go to the polls to ensure these changes happen in their communities.

The GOP is spending millions of dollars on disinformation and baseless lies about voter fraud and critical race theory. The real story is that Republicans are scared of the progress we’ve made and are looking to do whatever they can to turn the clock back on the rights we have gained.

If Black voters show up and the Democrats win both the governorship and the House of Delegates, we can keep working for a vision of Virginia where everyone can be healthy and prosperous. That means we can get to a $15-per-hour minimum wage faster and create more economic opportunity through a robust care economy with the right champions in office. Our voting rights will remain intact and we can continue to expand access to health care and labor protections for all workers.

The victories Virginia has secured so far did not happen by chance. It was the power of Black voters and organizers who increased the number of women of color in the House of Delegates, and they worked directly with the governor to

pass policies that provide our communities with the equal opportunities and fair outcomes that we deserve.

When we vote, we win. That’s why, across the country, Republican lawmakers are working around the clock to deprive Black voters and other communities harmed by white supremacy of our right to vote. They know our power and want to keep us away from the ballot box.

We can’t let them stop us. Again and again, Black voters have shown that we are the backbone of democracy in Virginia and across the nation. Let’s show up and show out again in this election.

You can vote early in person through Saturday, Oct. 30, by mail or at your local polling place on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 2.

Visit https://black2thefuture. org/va2021/ for more information on how and where to vote in the Virginia election.

Keauna Gregory is political director of the Black to the Future Action Fund. Alexsis Rodgers, a former Richmond mayoral candidate, is Virginia state director of Care in Action.