In case you missed it, Rep. Elaine Luria has a strong aversion to the minimum wage. The Hampton Roads Democrat called the federal minimum wage “criminal” and passionately added, “that everyone deserves a living wage to raise their family in the community.”
But at least two of her congressional staffers earned less than what qualifies as a living wage in Virginia.
The Washington Free Beacon reports:
According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Living Wage Calculator, an adult with no children must earn a yearly salary of $34,552 to make a living wage in Virginia. Luria has paid at least two junior staffers less than that amount, according to legislative research service LegiStorm. As a staff assistant, Luria’s current Virginia Beach constituent services representative, Jacob Olander, earned a yearly rate of just $33,588. Former Luria staff assistant Nolan Brown, meanwhile, made even less, earning a yearly rate of $31,769. Brown left Luria’s office last year.
Luria communications director Jayce Genco said every staffer in the congresswoman’s office now “makes a living wage.” He did not return a request for comment on past staffers in Luria’s office who did not earn a living wage.
Luria campaigned as a moderate, pro-business Democrat in 2018, when she narrowly defeated Republican incumbent Scott Taylor in a district that former president Donald Trump carried two years prior. While Luria argued against a $15 federal minimum wage on the campaign trail—instead opting for a regionalized approach in an attempt to protect small business owners—she went on to cosponsor legislation that would raise the minimum wage to $15 nationwide.
That flip-flop came only after Luria sold her small business, which she often invoked on the campaign trail to prove that she understood the economic risk of a one-size-fits-all $15 minimum wage. Such a policy, Luria said during a 2018 candidate forum, would “cause risk to my business and other businesses.”
Still, when it comes to median staff salary, Luria consistently ranks at or near the bottom of Virginia’s congressional delegation.