Democratic Party platform calls for $15 federal minimum wage

On Aug. 19, delegates to the Democratic National Convention approved a party platform that calls for a federal minimum wage of at least $15 an hour.

When a reporter asked Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance at an event in Philadelphia that same day about what the Trump-Vance ticket believes the minimum wage should be, Vance did not answer the question.

“Well, look, President Trump believes very strongly that the best way to promote raising Americans’ wages is with tight labor markets,” Vance said. “When an employer has got to pay a good wage to attract the right people — and you know the way that you destroy —  whether you have a higher minimum wage or lower minimum wage, the way to destroy the wages of American workers is to import 20 million illegal aliens and let them stay here with work visas.”

The federal minimum hourly wage has been frozen at $7.25 since July 2009. At 40 hours a week, a worker at that level would make just $15,000 in a year, which is at the federal poverty guideline for a household of one. Republicans in Congress have repeatedly blocked efforts to raise the wage.

During an October 2020 debate, President Donald Trump said that increasing the minimum wage nationally would harm businesses. “I think it should be a state option. Alabama is different than New York, New York is different from Vermont. Every state is different. It should be a state option.”

According to a 2023 analysis by the progressive Center for American Progress, a $15 minimum wage would benefit about 40 million workers, providing an average annual increase of $6,000 to many of the lowest earners. A February 2023 poll by the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy Program for Public Consultation found that 65% of American voters support increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour. 

Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature have blocked attempts to raise the state’s minimum wage above the current $7.25.

Incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin is a co-sponsor of the Raise the Wage Act, which would gradually increase the national minimum wage to $17 an hour by 2028. “Wisconsin’s economy is strongest when we expand opportunity for everyone. Unfortunately, many frontline workers are really struggling to get by during this economic crisis and an honest day’s work should pay more,” Baldwin said in a January 2021 press release backing an earlier bill. “The growing gap between those at the top and everybody else has been at historic highs in recent years. The absence of upward mobility for hard working families demands action and it is past time to raise the minimum wage.”

Her Republican challenger, millionaire bank executive Eric Hovde, said in an August 2017 radio interview: “Guess what? Minimum wage was never supposed to be a living wage. Minimum-wage jobs were generally entry-level jobs that high school or college kids took. And it was a way to teach you at that age, I don’t want to be in this job the rest of my life. I better work hard in school or work hard or get a technical skill, be it electrician or a plumber or whatever it is, so I’m not stuck in this job in another five, 10 years.” The Hovde campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.

Democratic U.S. Reps. Gwen Moore and Mark Pocan are also co-sponsors of the Raise the Wage Act. No Wisconsin congressional Republicans have signed on in support of the bill.

“Donald Trump and JD Vance spend way too much time cozying up to their billionaire buddies and corporate mega donors – guess that’s why they think $7.25 an hour is enough to get by on,” a spokesperson for the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz campaign said in an Aug. 19 press release. “A Trump-Vance administration is a guaranteed disaster for families across the country – with a $3,900 tax hike, higher rent and health care costs and, apparently, no raise for the minimum wage.”