Every Single Republican Candidate Opposes Raising the Minimum Wage

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Every single Republican in the main Republican debate tonight said they oppose raising the minimum wage.

They have no good reason for opposing raising the wage and while this is popular with their base, it will not fly when it comes to the general election.

They are basically handing this election to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or Senator Bernie Sanders. In fact, the Clinton campaign immediately sent out a memo reminding everyone what the Republican presidential candidates said and have said in the past on the issue of raising the minimum wage:

• Ben Carson JUST SAID, “I would not raise it. Period.”

• Donald Trump said, “I think having a low minimum wage is not a bad thing for this country.”

• Marco Rubio called the push to raise the minimum wage “a waste of time.”

• Jeb Bush on raising the minimum wage: “We need to leave it to the private sector. … The federal government shouldn’t be doing this. This is one of those poll-driven deals.”

• Ted Cruz voted to block legislation to raise the minimum wage.

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• John Kasich, when asked whether he supported a “reasonable” increase in the federal minimum wage, said: “No, no. No, no, no, no.”

• Carly Fiorina opposes raising the minimum wage and even said doing so “will hurt those who are looking for entry-level jobs.”

• Rand Paul voted to block the Minimum Wage Fairness Act.

Given that Democrats are running on raising the minimum wage, something President Obama has been working on doing state by state since this Congress refuses to act, this is a pretty stupid hill for Republicans to die on. Their excuses for not raising the wage were all debunked nonsense, with Dr. Ben Carson falling for the old Republican canard that raising the wage will kill jobs.

Hillary Clinton called out the Republican hypocrisy of claiming that “big government” shouldn’t raise the wage, yet they want to make women’s health decisions for them:

Republicans are speaking crazy to their base, but this is the age of the internet and video. All of these statements will be used by the Democrat in the general election and the Republican will have to explain to non-conservatives why they are against raising the wage.

Sarah Jones

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Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.

Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.

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