Though conservatives managed to beat progressives for control of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Senate and various state governorships, progressives managed to win many ballot questions around the country. In particular, four states and two cities voted to raise their minimum wages.

Alaska, Arkansas, South Dakota and Nebraska, along with San Francisco and Oakland, all voted in favor of measures that would raise their respective minimum wages over the next couple of years, according to The New York Times.

Republican majorities control all these states and have moved slowly on the issue, pushing voters to take the matter into their own hands.

Alaska overwhelmingly voted in favor of raising its minimum wage with 69 percent choosing to raise it to $9.75 by 2016, according to Alaska Dispatch News. Ballot Measure 3 ensures that the minimum wage will increase to $8.75 in 2015 before eventually reaching $9.75 an hour.

Arkansas was another state that overwhelmingly supported a raise. U.S. News and World Report explains 65 percent of voters chose to raise the minimum wage in their state, which is one of the few below the federal minimum wage of $7.25. Arkansas's minimum wage will rise from its current $6.25 to $7.25 in 2015. In 2016, it will increase to $8 and then to $8.50 in 2017.

Another state that approved a minimum wage raise was Nebraska, where it will be raised to $8 an hour in 2015 and then to $9 in 2016.

According to Argus Leader, South Dakota also voted in favor of a higher minimum wage, with 55 percent voting in favor. The minimum wage will rise from $7.25 to $8.50 in January 2015.

Aside from these four Republican states, San Francisco and Oakland both approved minimum wage increases, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco will voted to increase it to $15 by July 2018 with a 76 percent majority. In Oakland, 80 percent approved a measure that would raise the minimum wage to $12.25 in March.

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