Minimum Wage: Issue on State Ballots, Senate Elections

Labor groups plan to capitalize on heightened interest in minimum wage issues and pressure senators in tight races to back higher wages or face a backlash on election day.

The Working Families Organization, the National Employment Law Project Action Fund, and the Center for Popular Democracy Action Fund are teaming up with grassroots organizations in seven battleground states to educate voters about where lawmakers stand on a policy they say can help low-wage workers and the economy.

They also plan to pressure candidates who have opposed higher minimum wages or who haven’t chosen a side. In coming weeks, the groups plan a series of actions they hope will influence swing voters, drive voters to the polls, and shame lawmakers into advocating for higher pay floors.

The groups are betting minimum wage could be a pivotal issue in key races in Pennsylvania, Missouri, Wisconsin, Ohio, Arizona, New Hampshire, and North Carolina. They are in the process of scheduling protests outside of Senate debates, arranging door-to-door canvassing, organizing candidate forums and town hall meetings and doing polling on the issue. They also may invite candidates to shadow a low-wage worker on the job, and possibly expose those who will not.

Voters in at least five states also will face ballot questions on minimum wage in November. In Arizona, Colorado, and Maine, voters will be asked to consider plans to increase minimum wage to $12 by 2020. In Washington, a “yes” vote would lead to a $13.50 minimum wage by 2020.

South Dakota will consider a veto referendum that would decrease minimum wage by $1 for workers younger than 18; the teens’ reduced wage would be $7.50.

Sources: Wall Street Journal, ballotpedia.org