Thumbs up: Kyrsten Sinema's hometown of Tucson votes for $15 minimum wage by wide margin
Brig. Gen. Todd D. Canterbury, 56th Fighter Wing commander, thanks U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona for visiting the base Oct. 9, 2019, at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz. Sinema toured the Airman and Family Readiness Center, Military and Veterans Success Center and spoke with Luke leadership about modifications that could be implemented on the base. As a primary training base for pilots flying the F-35A Lightning II and the F-16 Fighting Falcon, Luke AFB is home to more than 6,600 active duty Airmen, reserve Airmen, and civilian employees; the base has a $2.4 billion economic impact in Arizona.
Just months after her now-infamous thumbs-down vote on a similar measure at the federal level, the people of U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's hometown of Tucson, Arizona overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative on Tuesday to increase the city's minimum wage to $15 an hour.
According to unofficial results posted by the city, Proposition 206 passed with approximately 60% of the vote compared to roughly 32% who rejected it.
Passage means Tucson's minimum wage will incrementally bump up from its current $12.15 to $15 by January 1, 2025. Tucson Fight for $15 led the campaign in support of it.
BREAKING: As local news reports, Tucson just became the latest city to pass a $15 minimum wage! The raise will benefit roughly 85,000 Tucsonans. \n\nCongratulations to @TucsonFor15!\n\nIt's past time that every worker in the US has a $15/hr floor\n\n#FightFor15 #RaiseTheWagepic.twitter.com/jiFG2Co8ll— Fight For 15 (@Fight For 15) 1635910205
A right-wing Democrat who's obstructed multiple progressive legislative priorities, Sinema (D-Ariz.) drew strong criticism in March when she voted, along with six other Democrats, against including a $15 federal minimum wage provision in the Senate's Covid relief budget reconciliation package. Increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 is overwhelmingly supported by Democratic voters, according to recent polling by Data for Progress.
Tucson, AZ, hometown of a certain senator who has been in the news a lot this year, just voted to raise their minimum wage to $15.
👍https://t.co/FWyboUT6t9
— Working Families Party 🐺 (@WorkingFamilies) November 3, 2021
In a Monday op-ed encouraging voters to back Proposition 206, Arizona Republic columnist Elvia Díaz wrote that voting yes should be "a no-brainer" for Tucson voters. She argued that even "$15 per hour is hardly a living wage" and that critics' arguments that the wage increase would unleash a "bureaucratic nightmare" were baseless.
"Those chamber-of-commerce types will always oppose paying workers more," she wrote, "no matter what."
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