Friends,

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! Today, we honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy by recommitting to his work: fighting racism, promoting economic opportunity for all, and combating injustice and discrimination. I’m spending the day across Virginia, putting that legacy into action by volunteering and meeting with folks to hear their priorities for the future of our country.

Dr. King forever shaped the trajectory of America, but there’s a tremendous amount of work to be done to live up the legacy he left behind. Sadly, Republican lawmakers and Supreme Court justices have worked to profoundly weaken one of the seismic legislative victories he fought for, the Voting Rights Act. In Congress, I have fought year after year to reauthorize a strengthened version of the law, as well as the Freedom to Vote Act, legislation that would institute automatic voter registration, same day and Election Day voter registration, online voter registration, and no-excuse mail voting. It’s imperative for the future of a free, fair, and functioning democracy that we take further action to protect voting rights, and I’m not giving up. 

While he might be best remembered for his work on voting rights and desegregation, Dr. King was also a tireless advocate for advancing economic opportunity, particularly for Black Americans. For the last several years, I have been almost obsessed with closing the racial wealth gap by boosting the footprint of community development financial institutions (CDFIs) and minority depository institutions (MDIs), organizations that provide loans to underserved and minority communities to help folks start or grow their own businesses. After securing a historic $12 billion investment from the federal government, I’ve also been working closely with private industry to get funding to minority entrepreneurs across the country, and in June of last year we celebrated a landmark $1 billion in committed deposits from corporate and banking leaders. I’ve also introduced legislation to help first-time, first-generation homebuyers (predominately people of color) build equity in their homes faster, alleviating a major obstacle for many Black and Brown folks who want to build wealth through homeownership. 

There’s a lot more to be done to root out hate, discrimination, and inequality – but there are a lot of concrete steps we can take to get closer to Martin Luther King’s vision of a nation where “justice runs down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.” I’m committed to fighting to get us there. If you want to share your thoughts about an issue that’s important to you, you can send me an email any time using the form on my Senate website. You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,