Joe Sanberg, the entrepreneur and anti-poverty advocate who spearheaded a recently defeated state ballot measure to raise California’s minimum wage, said he felt “frustrated and disappointed” by the loss, but vowed to continue advocating for struggling Californians.
Proposition 32, which would have raised the state’s minimum wage from $16 to $18 per hour by 2026, narrowly failed at the ballot box 50.8% to 49.2%.
The measure was pushed by Sanberg, a progressive business leader, investor and co-founder of the socially-conscious financial firm Aspiration.
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“I thought it was going to pass by a narrow margin,” he told Fox News Digital. “I’m frustrated and disappointed that we lost by a narrow margin. I also recognize that… people are very angry and frustrated about inflation, and they don’t know who and where to blame.”
“We should all be able to agree that if you work full-time, you should be able to afford life’s basic needs,” he added. “And there are millions of Californians for whom that is not the case.”
Advocates of Prop 32 said roughly 2 million workers, including hotel and grocery store employees, stood to benefit from the measure, The Associated Press reported.
In recent years, California has raised its minimum wage in an effort to offset increased costs for housing, gas and other necessities. In April, fast-food restaurants in the state with 60 or more locations were mandated to start paying their employees at least $20 per hour.
Business groups, including the California Chamber of Commerce, California Restaurant Association and California Grocers Association, opposed Prop 32, saying high labor costs would hurt small businesses, as well as lead to an increase in prices for customers.
“It’s understandable that policymakers, and even many Californians, might be allured and attracted to the concept of a few extra dollars in someone’s pocket, but unfortunately, they did not seem to understand the economic fallout of that kind of concept,” John Kabateck, the California director for the National Federation of Independent Business, told Fox News Digital.
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Opponents also argued that raising the minimum wage too fast would result in job losses.
“When a worker loses a job, or the company goes out of business, the wage is ZERO DOLLARS PER HOUR,” business leaders wrote in their official ballot argument.
Sanberg has spent years advocating for anti-poverty legislation and raising awareness about California’s tax credit that helps lift people out of financial uncertainty. Despite the loss at the ballot box, Sanberg said he remained optimistic.
He noted that in Imperial County, which sits east of San Diego on the California-Mexico border, President-elect Trump made significant gains with voters, despite Vice President Kamala Harris winning the overall vote count there.
“It’s clear that working-class voters are in favor of raising the minimum wage. To me, that sends a message about how we can get both parties working toward making work pay better,” Sanberg said.
Moving forward, Sanberg, who grew up with a single parent who struggled financially, said he plans to keep advocating for better pay for workers so they can at least afford the basics.
“I’m open to every approach to get us to that outcome. But that’s the outcome that we ought to pursue. I just can’t imagine that we can be satisfied with anything less than that,” he said. “What is more American than the idea of working full-time and knowing that you can afford your house, your transportation, your food and your health care?”
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“That is not some aspiration. That’s a basic covenant that I think all Americans are taught to believe that we have with each other,” he added. “I think that covenant has been broken now for some time for tens of millions of working-class people around the country.”
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