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. 

The Democratic-led Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed a bill in 2023 to gradually raise the state minimum wage from $7.25 to $15. The Republican majority in the state Senate has blocked action on the bill. 

Incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey has endorsed a $15-an-hour federal minimum wage. “For far too long working families have gotten the short end of the stick,” he said in February 2019. “I’m proud to join my colleagues in the fight to ensure economic stability for all working Americans by raising wages and eliminating loopholes that target young workers and individuals with disabilities.”

His Republican challenger, millionaire former hedge fund executive Dave McCormick, said during his failed 2022 Senate campaign: “I wouldn’t change the minimum wage we have now. But I wouldn’t raise it.” He has since suggested he might be open to an increase, but has not indicated how much. The McCormick campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.

Democratic U.S. Reps. Brendan Boyle, Matt Cartwright, Madeleine Dean, Chris Deluzio, Dwight Evans, Summer Lee, and Mary Gay Scanlon are all co-sponsors of the Raise the Wage Act, which would gradually increase the national minimum wage to $17 an hour by 2028. No Pennsylvania 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.”