Democrat Phil Murphy was elected governor of deep blue New Jersey in 2017 promising to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. With Democrats finally enjoying unified control of the state government after eight years of Chris Christie, leaders in the Assembly and Senate said they wanted to do the same.
Yet more than a year later, New Jersey’s minimum wage is at $8.85 an hour, barely changed from when Murphy was elected.
The lack of change is emblematic of intra-Democratic fighting in the Garden State and is a window into how challenging it‘s been for the Murphy administration to fulfill its self-styled role as a Democratic standard-bearer and liberal policy leader in the Trump era.
Negotiations have dragged for a year as Murphy and Democratic legislative leaders have disagreed on the details, and a bill to raise the minimum wage has yet to clear a committee. While it appears a deal could be imminent, as Murphy and legislative leaders prepare to negotiate again on Jan. 10, the question, particularly among Murphy’s liberal base, remains: What’s taking so long?
