Virginia Democrats put $15-an-hour minimum wage bill on Youngkin’s desk

Virginia Democrats were successful in getting legislation to increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 per hour by Jan. 1, 2027 to the desk of Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who almost certainly will use his veto pen to block it from being enacted.

We can make this educated guess because Youngkin vetoed similar legislation last year, saying, nonsensically, that “this wage mandate imperils market freedom and economic competitiveness.”

Good luck to Winsome Earle-Sears or whoever the Republicans end up nominating for governor, having to run against that headwind.

Abigail Spanberger, the presumptive Democratic Party nominee for governor, is going to use the minimum-wage debate to her advantage.

“In communities across the Commonwealth, I’ve heard from families who’ve had to choose between paying rent, keeping the lights on, or putting food on the table,” Spanberger said this week. “I’ve heard from Virginians who are rationing their lifesaving prescription drugs because they can’t afford their refills. And no matter if they’re a Democrat or Republican, I’ve heard from parents who are struggling to pay for the childcare they need to go to work and earn a living. Virginians’ wages are not stretching anywhere close to where they did in the past.”

The minimum wage in Virginia did increase, very modestly, on Jan. 1, from $12 an hour to $12.41 an hour – translating to $16.40 a week, and $852.80 for a year, for full-time, 40-hour-a-week employees.

Sixteen bucks a week, eight hundred fifty bucks a year, isn’t going to go that far with inflation in the Trump 2.0 era back to a 3 percent annual rate, which will cost the average American family $2,000 over the course of a year to maintain their standard of living.

Doing the math there, people on the bottom rungs of the income ladder are falling behind more than $1,000 a year even with the modest boost in the minimum wage.

This one should be easy for politicians across both sides of the aisle.

We were told that the shift from Democrats to Republicans in the 2024 election cycle was about the economy – cost of living, the difficulty that people have keeping up.

“Every Virginian who works full time deserves the opportunity to save for their futures and their children’s futures,” Spanberger said. “As bills increase and Virginians are forced to spend more of their pay to keep up, working families need stronger wages to make ends meet. I’m grateful to Chair Ward and every legislator who voted to pass this bill for their enduring commitment to building a stronger Virginia for our neighbors.”