Democrat Joe Cunningham picks SC lawyer and former fighter pilot as governor running mate

South Carolina Democrat Joe Cunningham has named Tally Parham Casey, a lawyer and the first female fighter pilot in the state’s Air National Guard, his lieutenant governor running mate as he seeks to unseat Republican Gov. Henry McMaster.

Cunningham introduced Casey on Monday in Greenville County, the same county where McMaster’s running mate, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, calls home. It’s an area of the state where Democrats have tried to make gains in past elections.

Casey, a 52-year-old Greenville native who now lives in Columbia, chairs the executive committee of the Wyche Law Firm. She served three combat tours in Iraq and left the military as a lieutenant colonel.

“I have long admired Joe’s bipartisan approach to governing and believe he is exactly what South Carolina needs as governor,” Casey said in a statement. “Joe is a regular guy who has the guts to say what we’re all thinking. He doesn’t play by traditional political rules and he doesn’t toe any party line.”

The Associated Press first reported Casey’s selection.

Cunningham, the one-term Lowcountry congressman, kept quiet for months about his lieutenant governor pick — a decision other Democratic governor candidates had made months in advance during the 2018 election when candidates were first allowed to have running mates.

Previously, the governor and lieutenant governor ran separately as the lieutenant governor presided over the Senate.

Cunningham released a short list of nine possible picks only last month. The list included state lawmakers, former candidates for office and the city manager in Columbia, who declined to be considered.

“She is a fierce, independent woman with a backbone made of steel and a heart of gold,” Cunningham said about Casey at Monday’s rally. “The good old boys at the State House won’t ever know what hit them.”

Casey criticizes McMaster

In Casey’s speech on Monday, she criticized McMaster for wanting to pass an abortion ban with no exceptions, such as rape, incest, fetal anomaly and to protect the life of the mother. In recent weeks, McMaster has said those exceptions in the state’s six-week abortion ban are reasonable.

But Casey’s comments come as the Legislature debates whether to institute further restrictions on abortion following the overturn of Roe v. Wade.

“I believe at my core that women have a right to control their own bodies,” Casey said. “I believe that women have a right to make their own decisions. If you will trust me to defend my country, to drop bombs and take out surface-to-air missiles flying a $30 million supersonic aircraft, shouldn’t you trust me to make decisions about my own body?”

Casey also criticized the state for having the highest income tax rate in the region, paying teachers poorly, having poor road conditions and being against expanding Medicaid and legalizing medical marijuana.

This year, McMaster signed a tax cut to eventually bring the top tax rate down from 7% to 6%.

Efforts to legalize medical marijuana passed the Senate but failed in the House after the legislation was thrown out over a procedural objection.

The starting annual teacher pay was increased this year from $36,000 to $40,000. Cunningham has said he wants to increase starting teacher pay in the state to $50,000 by 2030.

“Our state’s teachers are overworked and they’re underpaid and they’re barely getting any help from our leaders in Colombia,” Casey said. “We can do better.”

Casey’s effect on ticket

The choice of Casey, a Greenville native, gives the Democratic ticket a counter to McMaster’s running mate Evette, a businesswoman and Traveler’s Rest resident.

Casey is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Virginia School of Law. She has been a lawyer for more than 20 years, and focuses on commercial, securities and health care litigation and products liability, insurance and aerospace law.

“Over the next few months I look forward to traveling throughout our state to showcase our vision for a more free and prosperous South Carolina,” Casey said.

McMaster’s campaign dismissed the addition of Casey to the ticket, saying she won’t affect voters’ decisions in November.

“While we appreciate Ms. Casey’s service to our nation and welcome her to the race, Joe Cunningham’s choice of running mate will have far less of an impact on the campaign than his record as (a) left-wing, Joe-Biden Democrat who has spent more time chasing Tik-Tok followers than working to improve the lives of South Carolinians,” the campaign said in a statement.

While Casey has never run for public office, she has been politically involved, giving $700 in contributions to various candidates since 2018. In 2018, she gave $400 to James Smith’s unsuccessful campaign for governor.

Though McMaster won Greenville County with 58% of the vote in his first campaign for a full term in 2018, Smith got 42% of the vote — 11 percentage points higher than former state Sen. Vincent Sheheen’s 2014 run.

The Upstate region is considered South Carolina’s most conservative region, though Greenville has turned into a small battleground, where Democrats have made more headway locally than statewide. In 2019, for example, Democrats gained a majority on the Greenville City Council.

“We are the biggest county in the state,” said Amanda McDougald Scott, chairwoman of the Greenville County Democratic Party. “We need to make a big showing. That can make a big difference. If we already know ... Richland County and Charleston County are likely to go blue, then what is the other big county that’s going to make a difference? It’s probably going to be Greenville.”

A Democrat hasn’t won statewide since 2006, and no Democrat has won the governor’s office since Jim Hodges defeated David Beasley in 1998.

The last Democrat from the Upstate to be elected governor was Dick Riley, who was born in Greenville County and attended Furman University. He served as governor for two terms from 1979 to 1987.

An Upstate running mate might be the ticket to win statewide, McDougald Scott said.

“I think it’s a good strategic move on their part for that piece of it,” McDougald Scott said of picking a running mate from the Upstate. “As far as whether it will actually get out more voters, I think that remains to be seen.”