Prop 206 Passes Increasing AZ Minimum Wage

It was a crazy election night. The only politicial shock didnt come from Donald Trump. Arizona saw its share of crazy outcomes, Sheriff Joe is no longer the Maricopa Co. Sheriff, Hillary made AZ closer than its been in decades, and 205 went down in flames. Mixed Liberal and Conservative outcomes all over the place. But Prop 206 did pass. The munimum wage is going up in Arizona.

This was one of the most contested races in Arizona in what was a slwe of crazy down ticket fights. The Arizona Chambers of Commerce were the biggest backers and fiercest opponents of the prop, and they didnt see this outcome coming. AZ Central reports the journey of a young supporter of the prop who didnt expect this outcome:

Another is through the prism of the likes of John LaMontagne, one of the Proposition 206 "voter-engagement" foot soldiers.

The 20-year-old Arizona State University student knocked on hundreds of doors over the course of the summer — some 60 homes a day for a three-week stretch — mostly in Phoenix and Tempe. He said a vast majority of those who answered supported raising the minimum hourly pay to $12 by 2020.

While that wasn't surprising in working-class neighborhoods, LaMontagne said that even in more upscale communities in areas such as South Mountain, supporters got a warm reception to the proposition. "That caught me off guard," he said.

(It shouldn't. Polling had consistently indicated broad support, including across party lines. And adoption of a higher minimum wage by roughly a dozen and a half states over the past two years, including Washington and Colorado this year, has only strengthened that belief.)

LaMontagne's enthusiasm for Prop. 206 certainly reflects that of his generation, one that has grown up amid a recession, leaner job prospects and meaner college debt. It is also one that blends youthful activism with economic and social justice.