Election Day was a victory for the Republican Party.
Voters gave them control of the U.S. Senate and increased their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
In our area, the GOP won all statewide office in Texas-as they have for decades-while for the first time, Arkansas' Congressional delegation is all Republican with the GOP sweeping statewide offices as well.
Considering the push for Republican candidates-and, one must assume, the party's policies-from the voters, it's curious that when it came to one issue, even voters in red states turned decidedly blue.
That issue was the minimum wage.
Four states had an increase in the minimum wage on the ballot this year, and the measure passed in all four.
It was an impressive victory-more than 64 percent of the vote-in Arkansas, Alaska and Nebraska, where voters approved an increase with a 59 percent majority. South Dakota voters embraced an increase by a slimmer margin-53 percent.
The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour-a level that has held since 2009-but states are free to set a higher minimum.
So will the new majority in Congress looks to the will of the people and increase the federal minimum wage?
Don't hold your breath.
Back in April, there was an attempt to increase the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour over two years. The GOP-controlled House refused to consider the increase, while Republicans in the Senate blocked a vote there.
It should be noted there were some Democrats opposed as well. They considered the increase to $10.10 their own party supported as too high and it may well have been.
But so far Republicans have offered no counter of their own, aside from a few such as U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma, and U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, Tennessee, who want to do away with the minimum wage entirely.
That's not going to happen, and most Republicans wouldn't be in favor of it anyway.
But they need to show some empathy on wages, which have remained essentially stagnant for working- and middle-class jobholders for far too long. Right now, the GOP is riding high. But the consistent support for raising the minimum wage shows that voters aren't completely toeing the line. And that's not good considering demographic changes do not favor Republicans in the years to come. They have an opportunity to show leadership here and perhaps strengthen their position in the future.
The question is whether they will stick to party dogma or pursue that opportunity.