Democrats have set their sights on federal minimum wage laws to beef up the party’s platform ahead of the 2028 presidential elections. Just not everyone in the party agrees it needs to be a pillar of how Democrats address affordability.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut), who has been rumored to be considering a presidential bid, released a bill in June that would gradually raise the minimum wage to $25 per hour by 2039. Democratic senators told NOTUS that they are now discussing both updating Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vermont) bill to lift the minimum hourly wage to $17 by 2030, and introducing an entirely new bill tackling the federal minimum wage, which is currently $7.25 per hour.
Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona told NOTUS he would consider legislation to raise the federal minimum wage, as did New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker. Both senators have also been floated as Democratic presidential contenders.
“I am in conversations. There’s a lot of us Dems talking about a bill. I don’t want to talk any more about it because I’m not sure where things stand,” Booker said. He declined to offer details on how a prospective bill would differ from existing proposals, or whether he would sponsor or cosponsor the bill. Last year, Sanders’ bill notched 33 Democratic cosponsors.
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The slate of minimum wage proposals indicates the policy could be a central front in the party’s messaging on the economy, as President Donald Trump’s tariffs and war in Iran raise prices for voters anxious for relief. Potential Democratic contenders for the presidency have already released a stack of bills to cut taxes for middle- and low-income earners and farmers, as well as to raise taxes on billionaires.
But not all Democrats are convinced minimum wage is the right policy to prioritize in the party’s economic platform over the next two years.
“Most people in Michigan wouldn’t work for the current minimum wage in the state of Michigan, right? Like they’re being paid more, and they’re still not able to afford their life,” Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Michigan) said.
“It’s just, to me, not the top thing that I hear from people, or even in the top 10 that I hear from people,” she added. Slotkin has instead targeted home building and prescription drug costs in her legislation.
Raising the federal minimum wage has been a fraught debate for many election cycles; in 2016, Sanders’ push for a $15 minimum wage was a subject of heated debate with Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary. By 2020, Democrats had overwhelmingly embraced a $15 federal minimum wage, but a year later, their legislative efforts to enshrine it into law failed to overcome procedural hurdles and Republican opposition in the Senate.
“It’s been on the platform for many, unfortunately, for too many cycles,” Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California) said. Padilla thinks Democrats should “absolutely” emphasize it in 2028, but that they have “not entirely” reached consensus on the issue.
The federal minimum wage hasn’t budged since it rose to $7.25 in 2009. About 79,000 hourly workers earned exactly that wage in 2025, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Another 765,000 earned less than that.
Sanders’ cosponsors say they may have to revisit the $17-per-hour benchmark proposed in April 2025.
“We are talking about updating it,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) said about Sanders’ legislation. “It would be adjusting the numbers, and then the question is whether you adjust other things while you’re at it.”
Van Hollen declined to give specifics due to ongoing conversations, but said those workshopping the $17-per-hour proposal are taking new ideas, like Murphy’s $25-per-hour bill, into consideration.
“These are all good ideas that need to be pursued, but you know, one of the things we’re discussing is what is the best form,” Van Hollen added.
Sanders, for his part, was not familiar with Murphy’s bill, the Living Wage for All Act: “What is Living Wage for All?” Sanders asked when asked about the proposal.
Murphy’s $25-per-hour proposal — the companion to a bill from progressive Reps. Delia Ramirez of Illinois and Ro Khanna of California — has faced criticism from some economists and others in conservative and libertarian circles who say such a high minimum wage could lead to layoffs, reduced hours, poor working conditions and low hiring rates as employers look to cut costs.
Murphy’s position is that current wages do not match workers’ soaring productivity, nor provide the income necessary to live.
“$25 would be a living wage for a vast, vast majority of workers in this country. Some workers living in very high-cost places need more than $25, but $25 is the national living wage,” Murphy said.
Murphy’s bill would require large corporations to pay minimum-wage workers $12 per hour immediately after enactment, with gradual increases up to $25 per hour five years later. Other employers would have 12 years to reach that wage.
The proposal would set the minimum wage thereafter to two-thirds of the national median hourly wage. In contrast, Sanders’ proposal would increase the minimum wage by the annual percentage increase in the country’s median hourly wage.
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