In Ohio Senate forum, all three Republican candidates oppose raising minimum wage

During the Ohio Senate candidate forum on Monday, Republican candidates Bernie Moreno, Secretary of State Frank LaRose and state Sen. Matt Dolan all expressed opposition to raising the state’s minimum wage.

While responding to a question from Spectrum News 1’s Mike Kallmeyer about a potential increase to Ohio’s minimum wage, which currently sits at $10.45 an hour, Dolan said keeping the figure low inspires employees to work harder.

“Minimum wage is not intended to be a livable wage,” Dolan responded. “I’ve employed some people where we’ve started them at minimum wage. We were inspiring them to work harder.”

There is an initiated constitutional amendment currently being proposed that would raise Ohio’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. Currently, 413,488 signatures are required for the amendment to appear in front of voters, which could happen as soon as November if the appropriate number of signatures are collected by July 3. If the amendment passes on the November ballot, the minimum wage in Ohio would increase to $12.75 on Jan. 1, 2025, and then to $15.00 the following year.

LaRose contended that increasing the minimum wage would lead to increased unemployment and “loss of businesses.”

“All of us [candidates] up here seem to agree that there shouldn’t be a rise in the minimum wage, and that the market should do this,” LaRose said.

Ohio’s primary election will be held on March 19, where one of the candidates will advance to face likely incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) in the November general election. After spending thousands of dollars to cater events at former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, Moreno earned an endorsement from the GOP frontrunner. Recent polling suggests a slight edge to Brown against all three candidates, although all three are within the margin of error.