Steve Garvey (R-CA), a former great first baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers and current senatorial candidate, faced three Democrats serving in Congress—Adam Schiff, Katie Porter, and Barbara Lee—in a heated contest for the California senate.

Barbara Lee made the ridiculous claim that the minimum wage ought to be $50 per hour throughout the debate. Christina Pascucci, a Democrat and a former local TV journalist, criticized that.

Federal minimum wage increases to $15 per hour were hot topics in the 2020 Democratic primary. Given the state’s skyrocketing cost of living, Lee argues that California’s minimum wage should be $50 per hour. The fact that the governor, state senate, and assembly of California are all Democrats went unmentioned. This is what happens when just one political party controls a state that was once known for its moderate and even-handed policies.

Raising the minimum wage to $50 per hour would be too much for many small companies to handle. Increasing the minimum wage will not solve the housing shortage in California. Red tape and regulatory difficulties are discouraging developers from launching new projects, adding to the state’s inventory scarcity. Interest rates have been falling, but economists don’t see a precipitous decline to below 5% anytime soon.

Investors and purchasers are adapting and purchasing homes at higher than listed prices, even if loan rates are higher than they were a few years ago. Many, however, are stuck renting while they wait for rates to fall. So long as rates are high and inventory is low, this problem will persist. In the absence of solutions to these problems, raising the minimum wage won’t make a difference; nonetheless, companies and workers may always find other jobs.

Schiff, who lied to more than 300 million Americans, is running against Lee for a seat in the Senate. To put it mildly, her proposed minimum salary is just unattainable. Having experienced poverty firsthand while raising two children, she has maintained an anti-war position throughout her time in Congress. She, too, endured homelessness as a child, but she eventually rose above it.

As an anti-Schiff vote to prevent him from winning the senate in the general election, some Republicans in California have proposed voting for Lee or Porter instead of Garvey. According to the latest surveys, Schiff is leading, with 15 percent each from Porter and Garvey.

The number of registered Democrats in California exceeds that of Republicans and Independents put together. Some have said that voting for Porter will prevent Schiff from winning, even though Garvey has a strong possibility of placing in the top two. Since Schiff is persistently airing advertisements that promote Garvey’s name, he may be feeling the heat from Porter’s potential top-two performance in the general election, which might lead to his defeat. This is probably on the minds of some Republican voters in California as they prepare to cast their ballots in March.

Both moderate Democrats and Republicans in the Senate will reject Lee’s minimum wage proposal the moment it reaches their respective chambers.