--- title: Democratic Debate: What They Said About the Minimum Wage description: The Democratic presidential candidates differed on the exact amount of a new federal minimum wage. canonical: https://time.com/4113499/democratic-debate-minimum-wage/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-15T03:19:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:47:58.934Z article:section: Politics og:title: Here's Where the Democratic Candidates Want to Set the Minimum Wage og:description: What they said at the debate Saturday og:url: https://time.com/4113499/democratic-debate-minimum-wage/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte9cc64b00074df46/69887126428a9ecd36cd01c2/clinton-omalley-debate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4711 og:image:height: 2650 og:image:alt: Martin O'Malley, Hillary Rodham Clinton og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's Where the Democratic Candidates Want to Set the Minimum Wage twitter:description: What they said at the debate Saturday twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte9cc64b00074df46/69887126428a9ecd36cd01c2/clinton-omalley-debate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's Where the Democratic Candidates Want to Set the Minimum Wage > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: CBS Democratic Debate: Opening Statements [Watch (HLS stream): CBS Democratic Debate: Opening Statements](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/8wrx3uj6.m3u8) (3:22)  _Published 2015-11-15. CBS Democratic Debate: Opening Statements_  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Nov 15, 2015 3:19 AM UTC  Martin O'Malley speaks as Hillary Rodham Clinton watches during a Democratic presidential primary debate in Des Moines, IO on Nov. 14, 2015. Martin O'Malley speaks as Hillary Rodham Clinton watches during a Democratic presidential primary debate in Des Moines, IO on Nov. 14, 2015. Charlie Neibergall—AP  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Nov 15, 2015 3:19 AM UTC The Democratic presidential candidates made their case for a new federal minimum wage [at a debate in Iowa Saturday night](http://time.com/4112831/democratic-debate-paris-attacks-hillary-clinton/?xid=homepage), but they differed on the exact amount. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley both supported a $15 minimum wage. “I believe that over the next few years, not tomorrow, over the next few years, we’ve got to move the minimum wage to a living wage, 15 bucks an hour. And I apologize to nobody for that,” Sanders said. O’Malley then touted his record as Maryland governor, when he raised the state’s minimum wage to $10.10 per hour. “This was not merely theory in Maryland, we actually did it,” he said. “$10.10 was all I could get the state to do by the time I left, but two of our counties actually went to $12.80,” he said. O’Malley now advocates a $15 minimum wage. Clinton was more restrained, pushing for a $12 minimum wage. “If we went to $15, there are no international comparisons, that is why I support a $12 national federal minimum wage,” she said. “That is what the Democrats in the Senate have put forward as a proposal, but I do believe that is a minimum, and places like Seattle, like Los Angeles, like New York City, they can go higher.” **Read Next:** [_Here’s Every City in America Getting a $15 Minimum Wage_](http://time.com/3969977/minimum-wage/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4113499/democratic-debate-minimum-wage/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4113499/democratic-debate-minimum-wage/"},"headline":"Here's Where the Democratic Candidates Want to Set the Minimum Wage","datePublished":"2015-11-15T03:19:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:47:58.934Z","description":"The Democratic presidential candidates differed on the exact amount of a new federal minimum wage.","url":"https://time.com/4113499/democratic-debate-minimum-wage/","keywords":["Debates","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election","Minimum Wage","Martin O'malley"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte9cc64b00074df46/69887126428a9ecd36cd01c2/clinton-omalley-debate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte9cc64b00074df46/69887126428a9ecd36cd01c2/clinton-omalley-debate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Martin O'Malley, Hillary Rodham Clinton","caption":"Martin O'Malley, Hillary Rodham Clinton","creditText":"Charlie Neibergall—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/debates/","name":"Debates"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4113499/democratic-debate-minimum-wage/","name":"Here's Where the Democratic Candidates Want to Set the Minimum Wage"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"CBS Democratic Debate: Opening Statements","description":"CBS Democratic Debate: Opening Statements","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/8wrx3uj6/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-11-15T02:27:29.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/8wrx3uj6.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4113499/democratic-debate-minimum-wage/","duration":"PT3M22S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4113499/democratic-debate-minimum-wage/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```