They don’t do it for economics, low information voters like it.
You have a point.
They're going to lose a big bunch of votes when they pass the draconian gun control legislation they are pushing (and they will get it passed).
Minimum wage laws and "immigration reform" are voter creation tactics to replace those lost votes.
“They don’t do it for economics, low information voters like it.”
Actually, they do it because pay in union contracts is calculated in multiples of the minimum wage. Raise the minimum wage and every union employee gets a raise. Sometimes, a substantial raise. This puts more money in the union coffers.