Democrats are wasting no time cashing in their midterm wins — and the first check they're writing is a massive minimum wage hike that economists say will hammer small businesses and the very workers it claims to help.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, flush with a new Democratic trifecta in Harrisburg, announced this month that he intends to more than double his state's minimum wage, taking it from the federal floor of $7.25 an hour to $15 — a roughly 107% increase.
"We're going to more than double Pennsylvania's minimum wage," Shapiro wrote in an X post this month. "Codify abortion rights into our state Constitution. Fund mass transit. Build more housing."
The post was first reported by Fox News Politics, which also noted that Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is now calling for a federal increase as Democrats make "affordability" the centerpiece of their governing agenda.
Jeffries Lays Out the Plan
The state-level push is only the opening act. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told reporters at his weekly Capitol news conference Thursday that Democrats will move on a federal minimum wage hike when they take control of the House in January.
"America voted for dramatic change last Tuesday," Jeffries said. Asked how high Democrats would set the wage, Jeffries declined to give a number, saying House and Senate Democrats were still discussing the proposal. He pointed to the Raise the Wage Act — introduced in April 2025 by Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va. — which would lift the federal minimum to $9.50 an hour, then step it up annually to $17 over five years, with future increases tied to growth in the median hourly wage.
The federal minimum wage has sat at $7.25 since July 2009, according to the Labor Department.
Jeffries also listed a litany of other priorities: ending the war in Iran, opposing President Donald Trump's tariffs, reversing Medicaid and food assistance cuts, extending Affordable Care Act tax credits, and banning members of Congress from trading stocks. The Medicaid and food assistance cuts Jeffries referenced were included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Trump signed into law in July 2025.
Economists Sound the Alarm
Tom Savidge, an economist with the American Institute for Economic Research, told Fox News Digital that steep wage mandates force small businesses to raise prices, cut workers' hours, or stop hiring altogether.
"A federal minimum wage hike will worsen the affordability crisis," Savidge said. "A one-size-fits-all mandate ignores regional differences in wages and business conditions."
Rebekah Paxton, research director at the Employment Policies Institute, has similarly warned local officials about raising the minimum wage as Alameda County, California advances the highest mandate in U.S. history, according to Fox News.
The warnings aren't theoretical. Seattle, which has one of the nation's highest minimum wages, is now facing concerns about rising business costs and shrinking employment opportunities — a cautionary tale for Democrats plotting similar moves in Harrisburg, Springfield, and Washington.
The Veto Wall
There's a reason Democrats are front-loading state-level fights: President Trump still holds the veto pen in Washington. As NBC News reported this week, Democrats promised voters they would reverse cuts to Medicaid and food stamps, but delivering on that promise with Trump in the White House is another matter entirely.
That reality makes Shapiro's Pennsylvania push — and similar moves in blue states — the real battleground. A governor's signature can hike a wage overnight; a president's veto can stop one cold.
For Pennsylvania small business owners already squeezed by inflation, the math is grim. A restaurant owner running a six-person crew at $7.25 an hour would see labor costs more than double under Shapiro's plan. Some will absorb it by raising menu prices. Others will cut hours. Others will automate or close.
The workers Democrats claim to champion are often the first casualties: teenagers looking for a first job, entry-level workers building skills, and small-town employees at businesses with thin margins.
Our Take
Here's the tell: Democrats won a midterm and their first instinct wasn't to cut taxes, slash regulations, or make it cheaper to open a business — it was to make labor more expensive.
Shapiro says he wants to "more than double" Pennsylvania's minimum wage. More than double. For a small business owner in Scranton or Erie running on a two-percent margin, that's not a raise — that's a pink slip waiting to happen.
Economists have been screaming this for decades: price floors on labor create surpluses of labor — meaning fewer jobs. The people who get hurt first are the least skilled, the youngest, and the most vulnerable. That's not compassion. That's political theater paid for by the people it pretends to help.
And notice what's bundled in. Shapiro didn't just announce a wage hike — he announced abortion codification, mass transit funding, and housing mandates in the same breath. This is the progressive wish list wrapped in a "help the worker" bow.
Patriots, the fight is on. Pennsylvania business owners need to make their voices heard in Harrisburg before Shapiro's plan becomes law. And every American should watch what happens in Seattle and Alameda County — because that's the blueprint Democrats want to bring to your town next.
Do you trust the same politicians who brought you soaring prices and open borders to set the price of your labor? Neither do we.
