One Place Where Dems Won: 4 Red States Pass Minimum Wage Hikes

Protestors chant during a news conference Thursday, March 27, 2014, in Philadelphia. Americans United for Change has a scheduled 11 state bus tour advocating for an increase in the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 ... Protestors chant during a news conference Thursday, March 27, 2014, in Philadelphia. Americans United for Change has a scheduled 11 state bus tour advocating for an increase in the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) MORE LESS
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Four Republican-leaning states passed minimum wage increase initiatives on Tuesday, a small bit of good news in an otherwise bleak night for Democrats.

The states that approved minimum wage hikes on Tuesday were Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska, and West Virginia.

In Alaska, a move to raise the minimum wage to $9.75 an hour by 2016 passed with 69 percent of the vote. Arkansas, a vote to raise the minimum wage to $8.50 by 2017 passed with 65 percent of the vote. In Nebraska, a hike to raise the minimum wage to $9 an hour by 2016 passed with 59 percent of the vote. Finally, in South Dakota a hike to raise the minimum wage to $8.50 an hour by 2015 passed with 53 percent of the vote.

The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. President Barack Obama has called for raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.

Also on Tuesday, San Francisco became the second city in the U.S., behind Seattle, to raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour.

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