Labor advocates in Washington, D.C. are taking to the ballot box again.
A coalition that includes the advocacy group One Fair Wage, as well as unions Unite Here and the SEIU 99, on Monday announced the launch of a new “D.C. Living Wage for All Campaign.” Their goal: To raise the minimum wage to $25 per hour, and to eliminate the tip credit.
The campaign will seek to put the issue up for a ballot vote in November 2026.
D.C. residents have already approved an initiative to eliminate the tip credit twice. Most recently in 2022, voters approved Initiative 82, which would have increased the tip wage until July 2027, when tipped workers would earn the same as non-tipped.
But the city council put an end to that phase-out earlier this year, after Mayor Muriel Bowser called for a repeal of Initiative 82, saying it placed too heavy a burden on restaurants across the nation’s capital who were already struggling with growing operating and supply costs, higher rent and labor challenges.
In July, the council passed an amendment to Initiative 82 that paused the scheduled increase, keeping the city’s tipped wage at $10 per hour until July 1, 2026. The tipped wage will then increase to 56% of the full minimum wage, and then increase again to 60% in 2028.
After that, the tipped wage will increase 5% every two years until it reaches 75% of the full minimum wage by 2034. At that point, the tip credit will be capped at 25% of the full wage going forward.
Currently, the minimum wage in D.C. is $17.95 per hour, though that rate will be increased with a cost-of-living adjustment in July 2026 to $18.45 per hour.
Labor advocates, meanwhile, contend the city council “overturned the will of the voters” by reinstating the tip credit, according to a press release.
The move has pushed “thousands of workers back into poverty pay” while corporations post record profits, said supporters of the Living Wage for All Campaign.
The issue is likely to come up in the next mayoral race. Bowser said last month she would not run for re-election and her term ends next year.
According to polling by union group United Here, 80% of voters in the District of Columbia support a minimum wage hike to $25 per hour.
Efforts to push the minimum wage to $25 per hour or more have reportedly gained steam in Maryland, where One Fair Wage is also gathering petitions to put the issue on the ballot next year.
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani during his campaign advocated a “$30 by 2030” minimum wage hike. The city’s minimum wage is scheduled to increase to $17 per hour on Jan. 1, from the current $16.50.
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