Wages That Match the Cost of Living
Fighting for living wages, not just minimum wages
I am running for Congress because full-time work no longer covers the basic cost of living for too many families in the 7th Congressional District.
As a state legislator, I fought for and voted to pass Illinois’ minimum wage increase into law, a critical step that helped lift wages across our state and support higher local standards like Chicago’s minimum wage. That work mattered. It raised the floor for millions of workers and helped move families forward.
But we have to be honest about what families are facing now.
Across our district, wages have not kept pace with rent, health care, child care, transportation, and groceries. Families are working full-time and still falling behind. That is not a failure of effort. It is the result of policy choices that allowed costs to rise faster than pay.
A $15 minimum wage was an important first step.
Minimum wages set a floor.
Living wages reflect what it actually costs to live here today.
The reality in the 7th Congressional District
Here is what the numbers show:
A single adult in Cook County needs about $24.42 per hour working full time to cover basic expenses like housing, food, transportation, health care, and taxes.
In a two-parent household with two children, each working adult needs about $27.93 per hour to meet those same basic costs.
Today, the minimum wage is $15.00 per hour statewide and $16.60 per hour in Chicago, well below what families actually need to get by.
That gap is what families are living in every day.
What Living Wages means to me
Living Wages is not a slogan. It is a standard.
It means full-time work should cover the basic cost of living in the community where you live. It also means recognizing that workers and small businesses are both being squeezed by the same forces.
My approach is about raising pay, enforcing the law, strengthening worker power, and lowering the costs that make it harder for both families and local businesses to get ahead.
What I will fight for in Congress
1. Raise wage standards to match today’s costs
I will support and sponsor legislation that raises federal wage standards beyond outdated levels and prevents wages from falling behind again. I will fight to end subminimum wages that leave tipped workers and workers with disabilities earning far below the real cost of living.
A wage standard that ignores current costs keeps families stuck, even when they work full time.
2. Protect every dollar workers earn
Low wages are only part of the problem. Wage theft and misclassification reduce take-home pay across entire industries.
I will fight to fully fund wage and hour enforcement, increase penalties for repeat violators, and shorten the time it takes workers to recover stolen wages. If you earn it, you should keep it.
Strong enforcement also protects honest employers who follow the rules and should not be undercut by bad actors.
3. Strengthen worker power and fair competition
Wages rise when workers have leverage and when the rules are enforced evenly.
I will protect the right to organize without retaliation, close loopholes that allow worker misclassification, and require prevailing wages on federally funded projects. These standards raise pay while ensuring responsible employers are not pushed out by those who cut corners.
This supports union workers and protects workers without union coverage alike.
4. Supporting small businesses while raising wages
Living wages and strong small businesses go hand in hand.
Most local business owners want to pay fair wages, but they are squeezed by rising health care costs, high rents, limited access to credit, and unfair competition from large corporations. Too often, large companies use loopholes and misclassification to undercut both workers and responsible small employers.
My approach pairs higher wage standards with targeted support for truly small, locally owned businesses. That means lowering health care costs, improving access to affordable credit, enforcing labor laws evenly, and ensuring that responsible employers are not punished while bad actors cut corners.
Raising wages should strengthen local economies, not hollow them out.
5. Use tax policy to raise take-home pay
I will expand the Earned Income Tax Credit and strengthen the Child Tax Credit for working families, while opposing tax policies that reward stock buybacks over payroll.
Tax policy should reward work and reinvestment in people, not extraction.
6. Reduce the costs that erase wages
A living wage does not work if every raise disappears.
I will fight to lower prescription drug and health care costs, expand access to affordable child care, and address housing and transportation costs that function like hidden pay cuts for families and added pressure on small businesses.
Lower costs make higher wages sustainable.
The role of Congress
Congress does not set individual paychecks.
Congress sets the rules that determine whether wages keep up or fall behind.
I will use my vote, committee work, and oversight authority to raise standards, enforce the law, and support an economy where workers and local businesses can succeed together.
My commitment
My standard is simple and measurable:
If you work full time, your wages should cover the basic cost of living in the community where you live.
That is the benchmark I will fight for.
That is what Living Wages means to me.
Vote for Living Wages
Democratic Primary · Early voting begins February 5 · Election Day March 17, 2026
If you believe full-time work should cover the cost of living, this is your moment to act. Whether you vote early or on Election Day, March 17, I’m asking for your support in the Democratic primary for Congress.
