Dem Senate candidate sticks by call for $50 minimum wage, suggests $100,000 is fair 'living wage' in CA

Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee didn’t back down from her call for a $50 minimum wage when pressed about it on the California Senate primary debate stage on Tuesday night.

"Congresswoman Lee, you’re sticking by the $50 minimum wage?," Lee was asked on the debate stage following the most recent debate where she defended her previous call to raise the minimum wage to $50, around $100,000 per year.

"First of all, we have to look at what it takes to live in California," Lee responded. "We have a huge affordability crisis. Cost of living is much too high. First, at the federal level, of course we have to raise the minimum wage. We haven’t raised it in a decade. $7.25 to $17 in 2025, OK, great first step."

"But in California, for example we have $16 an hour now, and believe you me, every single study that you have seen that has been written about the affordability crisis in California, people working 2-3 jobs just to pay rent just to afford childcare we have to think about and talk about a living wage," Lee continued. "What does that mean? Have a living wage in California. Over $100,000 in many parts of California people are just barely surviving or living on the edge, so we have to think about what it takes to make sure people can afford to live in California. That means a living wage."

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Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., attends a news conference with the Pro-Choice Caucus on the reintroduction of the "Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance (EACH) Act, outside the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, January 26, 2023.  (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Lee previously called for the $50 minimum wage, seven times the current federal minimum wage, on the campaign trail sparking criticism from those who argue that raising the minimum wage forces business to close or layoff low wage earners that advocates of the raising the minimum wage are aiming to help.

A Congressional Budget Office report in 2019 showed that while raising the federal minimum wage would raise incomes for some, it would ultimately end up costing many low wage workers their jobs and negatively effect younger workers in the long run.

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Rep. Barbara Lee (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

A 2021 Harvard Business Review study found that raising the minimum wage actually leads to lower compensation for employees.

"At this point, far left politicians are so unwilling to listen to reason that I think they should actively pursue all the crazy ideas that they allegedly support," E.J. Antoni, a research fellow in regional economics with the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis, told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. 

Protesters hold a sign reading, "A Living Wage is a Human Right." (Joshua Comins/Fox News Digital)

"Don't just stop at a $50 minimum wage, let's make it $500. The only way that people today can be convinced of the lunacy of these proposals is to let them be implemented, and then allow people to face the ramifications."

Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..