“It’s a national trend,” Vokal said. “I just don’t think that people understand the long-term effects of this, but history will tell.”

Nordquist said the vote was “a shot across the bow” to elected officials who might ignore working families. He said it might help boost other issues, such as the expansion of Medicaid to more low-income Nebraskans, an issue that has failed to pass in the Nebraska Legislature the past two years.

Twenty-three states currently have minimum wages higher than the federal wage, but proposals to raise minimum wages have been a hot issue nationally. On Tuesday, voters in Alaska, Arkansas and South Dakota also approved minimum wage hikes. And Illinois voters passed a non-binding referendum on increasing the state’s minimum wage from $8.25 an hour to $10.

The efforts by Nebraskans for Better Wages were supported by some of the state’s wealthiest residents, as well as labor unions and advocates for the poor.

While conservative-leaning groups like the Platte Institute spoke out against Initiative 425, no formal opposition campaign emerged. One political heavyweight, the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce & Industry, for instance, sat out the issue, declining to take a stand on raising the minimum wage.