Jackie Short is a single mom in Richmond. She is raising her family on $7.25 an hour. When I asked her what that felt like, she replied, “I can imagine what it was like in slave times and how they felt. They got paid nothing and that’s what it feels like when you are working just to live and still can’t afford your bills or feed your children. It shows me how real the struggle is.”

Rich Anderson consistently votes against raising the minimum wage.

Delegate Rich Anderson has been representing us since 2010. 

Every year in the Virginia General Assembly, there are several bills introduced to raise the minimum wage. Rich Anderson has had seven years and seven General Assembly sessions to show that he stands with workers and their families.

But every time he gets the chance to vote on raising the minimum wage, Anderson votes against it. He even voted against an amendment on a bill to raise the wage just for government workers.

Every time Rich Anderson gets the chance to vote on raising the minimum wage, he votes against it.

Working 40 hours a week at minimum wage in Virginia gets you… poverty.

We have a minimum wage so that a person working 40 hours a week doesn’t live in poverty. Because the wage in Virginia hasn’t been increased since 2008, however, a single mom with one child can work 40 hours a week can make just $15,080, which is below the poverty line of $15,391. That single mom ends up working two or three jobs in order to make ends meet and ends up working more than 60 hours a week.

Can YOU live and raise a child on $15,080 per year?

No one should have to choose between putting food on the table for her kids to eat and keeping the lights on so that the kids can do their homework at night. It is an impossible choice, and one that far too many families in our community are forced to make on a monthly basis. We know some of these families fighting to raise the wage and—surprise!—they’re real people.

Vote on November 7 to stand up for our working families.

The struggle for working families could be mitigated if we had a delegate who would simply stand up for our community and vote to raise the minimum wage. When I go to vote on November 7, I’ll be thinking about Jackie Short and all the families in our community who work so hard to provide but fall short because people like Rich Anderson don’t prioritize their needs. When you vote on November 7, I hope you stand up for our families too!