5 takeaways from the SC lieutenant governor debate

In a debate that lacked many fireworks, Republican Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor Tally Casey took the debate stage four weeks before election day to tout their running mates.

Evette is running with Gov. Henry McMaster for a second term. Casey is former Democratic Congressman Joe Cunningham’s running mate hoping to unseat the Republicans.

McMaster and Cunningham are scheduled to participate in their own debate at 7 p.m. Oct. 26 on SCETV.

Tuesday’s debate was held at the SCETV studios in Columbia and co-sponsored by The Post and Courier, SCETV and Public Radio.

Here are five takeaways from the debate.

Abortion politics right off the bat

During Casey’s opening statement, she said McMaster wanted to ban abortions without any exceptions. Later, Casey added she would want to go back to the previous precedent of Roe v. Wade, which was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year.

“We’re not seeking to permit partial birth abortions or abortion on demand,” Casey said. “We’re just seeking basic freedoms for women to have the ability to make health care decisions within their own control or with consultation with their doctor.”

Casey even characterized the Republican ticket as pro-birth as opposed to pro-life.

Evette defended the state’s heartbeat bill, which has exceptions for rape, incest, life of the mother and a fatal fetal anomaly. The state’s fetal heartbeat bill is currently not being enforced because it is under review by the state Supreme Court.

Evette referenced a federal bill introduced by U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, that says a baby can feel pain at 15 weeks and said women have other options in lieu of abortion such as going to free clinics and putting a child up for adoption. Graham wants to ban abortions after the 15th week, but with exceptions for rape, incest or to protect the life of the mother.

“I am not just pro life in the womb. I’m pro life in the womb. I’m pro life when our children need to walk safely down the street and I’m pro-life when women feel afraid to walk alone at night. So to clarify that I’m pro life all the way through life,” Evette said.

Some agreement on critical race theory

Casey and Evette said critical race theory is not appropriate for kindergarten through 12th grade classrooms, but that’s as far as they agreed.

Casey said the concept is taught in law school and parents don’t need to worry about it being in kindergarten through 12th grade schools, saying it’s not taught at those levels.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate to have critical race theory taught to K through 12 students. But I think even talking about it at this point is fear mongering,” Casey said. “We do think it’s important to focus on the curriculum that’s taught in schools. There’s a place for curriculum and not for activism.”

Evette said the issue of critical race theory leads to letters and phone calls from parents to the governor’s office and teachers are uncomfortable with some curriculum being taught.

“I don’t think anything should be taught in school that alters history,” Evette said. “I think what we talk about is that, if history isn’t taught properly, history tends to repeat itself. We’ve heard that over and over again. And I think it’s really unfair to make anybody feel bad about parts of them, their heritage or their culture that they were born into and cannot walk away from.”

Blaming Biden

On a question about addressing opioid overdose deaths in the state, Evette pivoted to put the blame on the Biden administration.

“How are we ever going to stop opioids from hitting our streets when we have an open border? President Biden has opened our borders to allow drugs to enter into our country in unprecedented amounts,” Evette said.

Casey used the question to talk up Cunningham’s stance to legalize marijuana in the state.

“In this case, it offers a safe alternative to these dangerous and addictive opioids. And what it also does is it eliminates the waste of taxpayer money as well as police resources in pursuing nonviolent criminals,” Casey said.

Medicaid expansion question comes up again, 4 years later

As in the 2018 lieutenant governor’s debate, which featured Evette and former state Rep. Mandy Powers Norrell, the issue of whether to expand Medicaid came up.

Evette said any money coming from the federal government is not “free” money as it requires a state match. She also used the opportunity to criticize Cunnigham’s call to eliminate the state income tax. Expanding Medicaid may require shifting resources from other needs, Evette said.

“The numbers just don’t add up. As an accountant, you can’t eliminate tax, you can’t increase Medicaid, and you can’t keep all the vital things that are happening in South Carolina going. It just doesn’t add up,” Evette said.

Casey said money is available in the state, pointing to the state’s $1 billion budget surplus. She argued that paying for the state’s match would only take up 10% of the state’s surplus.

“These are our tax dollars,” Casey said, referring to how the federal government would pay for 95% of the cost of expanding Medicaid. “This is money we’ve already spent and it’s going to insure people in other states.”

Raising the minimum wage

In a question about how to help people deal with inflation, Casey pointed to the need to raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour from $7.25.

“It’s just not a living wage especially in these inflationary times,” Casey said.

Progressives in the party have called for a $15 minimum wage, but Cunningham has been against that level because of the possible effects on the service and tourism industry in the Lowcountry.

Evette said the state’s economy is thriving, and setting a higher minimum wage is not necessary as businesses already are offering higher pay to attract workers.

“I don’t know anybody in the state of South Carolina that can attract an employee at $7.25 an hour,” Evette said.