2020 presidential candidates on the minimum wage

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Presidential election
Donald Trump

Joe Biden

Howie Hawkins

Jo Jorgensen

This page includes statements from the 2020 presidential candidates on the minimum wage. These statements were compiled from each candidate's official campaign website, editorials, speeches, and interviews. Click the following links for policy statements about related issues: the economy, Social Security, paid leave, and taxes.

The candidates featured on this page are the 2020 presidential nominees from the Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, and Green parties.

Donald Trump
Joe Biden
Howie Hawkins
Jo Jorgensen

Minimum wage

Republican candidates

Donald Trump

In an interview with Telemundo, Donald Trump said, "Wages have gone up more than 3%. That's a very low number, the $15, and I am actually looking at that. But beyond that, because that's just an artificial number, much more importantly, because I'd like to get people higher than that—wages have gone up tremendously in the United States since I've taken over. In fact, soon to be record numbers." ^{[source, as of 2019-06-21]}

Mark Sanford

Mark Sanford's campaign website does not include a position on minimum wage.

His website says about the economy and taxes, "For the last fifty years, Americans have sent in about 18% of GDP (the whole of all that is spent and consumed in our country) in taxes each year to the federal government. I do not believe this number should go up, but I do believe we could move to a fairer and simpler tax system along the lines of a fair tax or flat tax. Presently, more than a trillion dollars a year is carved out in the form of tax exemptions, and I believe a flatter and broader tax system would be helpful to individual liberty, job creation, and American competitiveness." ^{[source, as of 2019-09-10]}

Joe Walsh

Joe Walsh's campaign website does not include a statement outlining his position on the minimum wage. ^{[source, as of 2019-08-30]}

Bill Weld

Bill Weld's campaign does not include a statement about minimum wage.

Weld said in a speech about jobs and wage growth, "Domestically, our most immediate priority must be jobs and wages. What are we going to do about the fact that 25% of all the jobs in the United States today won’t exist in 15 years? This is not caused by the unseen hands of globalization or the internet, but rather by the soon to be all-too-visible hands of robotics, drones, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and autonomous vehicles. The old jobs will be replaced by new and different jobs, but the problem is that today’s workers don’t yet possess the skill sets that the replacement jobs will require. This truly is a national emergency, and it’s going to require a nationwide response. The skills required by the new jobs correspond roughly to the skills now taught in the first two years of post-secondary education, or the community college level. But a displaced worker can’t take two years off and pay two years’ tuition to acquire those skills. Accordingly, we should adjust our budget priorities to cover the cost of in-state tuition for those displaced workers, as we did for our returning veterans under the G.I. Bill following World War II. In addition, to cut down on room and board expense, we should encourage and embrace on-line education. It has now been proved that distance learning is as effective as learning in a bricks and mortar classroom, so we should take advantage of that." ^{[source, as of 2019-02-15]}

Democratic candidates

Joe Biden

Joe Biden supports raising the federal minimum wage to $15.

Biden's campaign website says the following about the minimum wage: "As Vice President, Biden helped get state and local laws increasing the minimum wage across the finish line – including in New York State – and has supported eliminating the tipped minimum wage. He firmly believes all Americans are owed a raise, and it’s well past time we increase the federal minimum wage to $15 across the country. This increase would include workers who aren’t currently earning the minimum wage, like the farmworkers who grow our food and domestic workers who care for our aging and sick and for those with disabilities. As president, Biden will also support indexing the minimum wage to the median hourly wage so that low-wage workers’ wages keep up with those of middle income workers." ^{[source, as of 2019-08-20]}

Michael Bloomberg

Mike Bloomberg said in a speech, "Across this country, we are suffering from a lack of national leadership on all the big issues we face. For example, we have an economy that is tilted against most Americans. In Texas, the minimum wage is still $7.25, whereas in New York, we succeeded in raising it – and I'm glad to say that it’s now $15 an hour, as it should be nationwide. You've got to think about this for a little bit. It’s really impossible to feed a family on $7.25, no less buy things to put under the Christmas tree." ^{[source, as of 2019-12-07]}

Cory Booker

Cory Booker's campaign website says that he will "Raise the minimum wage to $15/hour." ^{[source, as of 2019-08-27]}

Pete Buttigieg

Pete Buttigieg's campaign website says a key policy is to, "Raise the minimum wage to $15 and ensure workers access to the predictable hours, wages, and support they deserve. For too long, the typical worker’s wages have not kept up with expenses like health care, housing, and education. Pete wants to make sure that workers who are giving their all to an employer are getting paid fairly in return. By raising the minimum wage to $15 and beyond, we can start taking steps to make sure that the economy is working for all workers. Restoring Obama-era overtime regulations will ensure that over eight million workers who are putting in extra time for their employers get paid for those hours." ^{[source, as of 2019-08-21]}

Julián Castro

Julián Castro's says of the minimum wage, "We need to fight for $15 but also be ambitious for more."

Castro's website continues: "For over a decade, we haven’t raised the minimum wage, which has been losing purchasing power every year. It would be worth over $19 an hour if we had kept pace with productivity growth. That’s why organizers, cities, and states have taken action in places like Chicago, Arizona, and Michigan. That’s why I stood with fast food workers in Durham, North Carolina and the Quad Cities in Iowa as they demanded a raise to at least $15 an hour." ^{[source, as of 2019-08-28]}

Tulsi Gabbard

Tulsi Gabbard's official government website says, "The federal minimum wage has fallen far behind inflation and has actually lost value over time, meaning working families are making less while paying more just to make ends meet. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is an original cosponsor of the Raise the Wage Act, which would raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2024 and index the minimum wage to the median wage growth thereafter. The federal minimum wage has stagnated for the last 10 years, and it is long overdue for Congress to do the right thing for hard-working Americans and raise the minimum wage." ^{[source, as of 2019-09-26]}

Kamala D. Harris

Kamala Harris' campaign website says, "To raise wages, Kamala will fight to empower unions, make a $15 minimum wage the national floor, and create stricter penalties for companies that cheat their workers." ^{[source, as of 2019-08-20]}

Amy Klobuchar

Amy Klobuchar's said on Twitter, "There’s no question about it — the federal minimum wage must be increased to $15 an hour."

Her campaign also published a plan for her first 100 days in office which says, "In line with her goal of increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, Senator Klobuchar will increase the minimum wage for federal contractors to that threshold," and that she, "will strengthen enforcement and expand investigations to make sure that are wage laws are properly enforced and that workers are able to recover back pay when the government rules in their favor." ^{[source, as of 2019-02-21]}

Beto O'Rourke

Beto O'Rourke's campaign website includes as part of his economic plan "Fighting for a $15 Minimum Wage." ^{[source, as of 2019-08-27]}

Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders supports raising the minimum wage to at least $15 per hour.

Sanders' campaign website says the following: "In the richest country in the world, there is no state in which working 40 hours at the state minimum wage generates enough income to afford a one-bedroom apartment. It is unacceptable that workers rely on employers for life-saving health care. Working for a living should mean earning a living wage, and health care should be a human right—not a bargaining chip that keeps employees in coercive, exploitative environments. And families should have the security of knowing they can take care of sick loved ones and secure an education for their children. We must: Raise the minimum wage to a living wage of at least $15 an hour." ^{[source, as of 2019-08-23]}

Thomas Steyer

Tom Steyer's campaign website says, "No one should be forced to work more than one full-time job just to survive, and no one should see their raise eaten up by the rising cost of living." ^{[source, as of 2019-09-10]}

Elizabeth Warren

Elizabeth Warren said on Twitter, "When I was a kid, a minimum-wage job could support a family of three. Today it won’t keep a mom and her baby out of poverty. I’m glad to see the House pass the #RaiseTheWageAct to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. Now the Senate must act." ^{[source, as of 2019-08-26]}

Andrew Yang

Andrew Yang tweeted, "I love the spirit of a $15/hr minimum wage - no one should work full-time and not be able to live. But it would hasten the reduction of many retail and fast food jobs and doesn’t include caregivers. Much better to just put $1,000 a month into people’s hands—a raise of $6/hour." ^{[source, as of 2019-02-20]}

Green candidates

Howie Hawkins

Howie Hawkins' campaign website says, "All citizens shall have the rights to a minimum income sufficient to meet basic needs."

His campaign website also says, "Enact federal legislation and funding so everyone 18 years or over can receive a minimum livable income for four years of attendance at a post-secondary educational institution, like the post World War II GI Bill of Rights provided to veterans." ^{[source, as of 2020-07-09]}

Libertarian candidates

Jo Jorgensen

Jo Jorgensen's campaign website says she opposes raising the federal minimum wage and supports eliminating all wage standards. ^{[source, as of 2020-07-28]}

Other policy pages

Abortion

2020 presidential candidates on abortion

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2020 presidential candidates on gun regulation

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Footnotes