Outgoing Republican governor and former private equity executive Glenn Youngkin has consistently blocked legislative efforts to raise the minimum wage.
The Democratic nominee for governor, former congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, has pledged to raise Virginia’s minimum wage to $15 an hour if she is elected this fall.
“Virginians deserve to have their hard work rewarded and respected,” Spanberger said in a statement. “As Governor, I will start every day thinking about how we strengthen our Commonwealth for working families.”
Spanberger announced her support for increasing the minimum wage on Tuesday as she appeared at an event in Henrico County alongside other Virginia Democrats and labor leaders.
Virginia’s minimum wage rose to $12.41 earlier this year due to legislation passed in 2020 under Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam. The legislation included re-enactment clauses that required approval by the General Assembly and governor for the minimum wage to rise to $13.50 in 2025 and $15 in 2026.
But outgoing Republican governor and former private equity executive Glenn Youngkin vetoed legislation aimed at meeting the requirements of the re-enactment clause, blocking minimum wage increases. Virginia’s constitution prohibits governors from serving consecutive terms.
Lieutenant Governor and Republican nominee for governor, Winsome Earle-Sears, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Republican Party of Virginia said Spanberger was “talking just like a Left Coast liberal” for supporting an increase to the minimum wage.
There are about 990,000 workers — 21.6% of the workforce in Virginia — who make less than $17 an hour, according to a 2024 report by the nonprofit Oxfam America. And the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that of Virginia’s 1.9 million workers who were paid hourly in 2017,15,000 earned Virginia’s minimum wage, which at the time was the same as the current federal minimum wage of $7.25
Virginia US Rep. Bobby Scott recently joined US Sen. Bernie Sanders to introduce federal legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to $17 an hour by 2030.
It is well documented that as worker productivity has grown in the US, wages have not grown at the same rate. And as costs have risen in the US, research has shown that $15 an hour is no longer enough money to live on.
A single adult with no children would need to earn something closer to $25 an hour to be able to afford to live in Virginia, according to estimates by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
