Democrats suffered the loss of the senate on Tuesday night as midterm election results rolled in. But one progressive cause celebrated victories in four states that typically vote along conservative lines.

Voters in South Dakota, Nebraska, Arkansas and Alaska all approved measures towards raising their states' minimum wage from the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour to at least $8.50 an hour. For a full-time worker, that could mean an additional $2,000 a year.

In Alaska, where a close senate race has yet to be declared as neither candidate received 50 percent of the vote, the results for house and senate races were split, but raising the minimum wage was an effort most voters could agree on. More than 65 percent of voters approved a hike to $9.75 an hour, one of the highest rates in the country. Likewise, South Dakota, Nebraska and Arkansas bled red when casting votes for the senate, house and governor's race, but also decided that all workers should be paid $8.50 an hour by 2015, $9 an hour by 2016, and $8.50 an hour by 2017, respectively.