Mace, Andrews differ on key issues as race for SC’s 1st congressional district winds down

The race to represent the Lowcountry in South Carolina’s 1st congressional district has been a slugfest, pitting incumbent U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-Charleston, against Democratic challenger Dr. Annie Andrews, a pediatrician from Charleston.

“Each election cycle she [Mace] tries to scare constituents into voting for her by telling them that Parris Island is going to be shut down and only she can protect it,” Andrews wrote in an op-ed piece published Oct. 20 by The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette. “It’s not true.”

When Andrews said Mace has proposed balancing the federal budget by cutting Social Security, Mace shot back that Andrews has “no idea what she is doing.”

With the Nov. 8 election just days away, here’s where the two candidates stand on some key issues in the race:

Abortion

Andrews, during an Oct. 19 debate, said she supports abortion access until 24 weeks and that a decision to get an abortion should between a woman and her doctor.

“The last thing we need is politicians ... in the exam room,” Andrews said.

She asserted that her competitor’s support of the “Life at Conception Act” could pave the way for a federal ban on abortions without exceptions for incest, rape or fetal abnormalities.

Mace disagreed, citing that the word abortion does not appear on the one-sentence bill, and said she would protect women who were victims of rape or incest.

“I have been very strong; I have said that I would not support any bill that would ban abortion without exceptions,” she said.

Jace Woodrum, American Civil Liberties Union executive director, said that although the word is not on the bill, it “clearly is an abortion ban.”

Inflation

“Wages are not keeping up with inflation,” said Mace.

To address this and balance the federal budget, Mace said her Penny Plan to Enhance Infrastructure Act of 2022 is just one solution.

“This is an issue — deficit spending, taxes — that both Republicans and Democrats alike have contributed to and that we’ve got to fix,” she said.

Andrews said focusing on the supply chain and increasing domestic manufacturing would help alleviate the financial strain but added that lowering the cost of prescription drugs like insulin for American families would also address inflation.

“We are facing global inflation and it is a result of the pandemic. ... I feel the pain and we all have to work together in a bipartisan manner to find a solution,” Andrews said.

Climate change

Protecting South Carolina’s coastal cities from rising sea levels has been a concern of residents for years, but the increased vulnerability of these areas has brought the topic to the forefront this election cycle.

“We have to take flooding seriously and flooding is a problem because of, No. 1, our crumbling infrastructure and, 2, climate change,” Andrews said.

Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island has been a point of contention for the candidates. In a March meeting organized by The Nature Conservancy in Beaufort, officials said plans to protect the base from rising sea levels could not wait.

Andrews said climate change is Parris Island’s greatest threat and that her opponent’s attempts to save it haven’t “gone anywhere.”

Mace vowed to do everything she could to keep the base open, which she called the “beating heart of the Lowcountry.” Parris Island, she said, is responsible for sustaining 6,000 jobs and the training of about 20,000 Marines in the area every year.

“There’s nothing wrong with Parris Island,” said Mace. “I’ve been there.”

Education

Forgiving student loan debt was a pillar of President Joe Biden’s 2020 election campaign. In August, the Biden administration announced a three-part plan to forgive $10,000 for low- to middle-income borrowers.

Andrews suggested that the solution to the problem does is not relieving student loans, but “addressing the cost of higher education.”

“We have to get serious about counseling our students about their options once they leave high school and we have to get serious about holding universities accountable for raising the cost of tuition,” she said. “We don’t need blanket student loan forgiveness.”

Mace said she does not support loan forgiveness and is doubtful of its rollout.

“Any time the federal government injects itself into an industry or product, prices go up,” she said. “The one thing we should be doing ... is that any institution of higher learning, college or university, for example, that is getting any sort of government funding, we should mandate they cap tuition for four years.”

The federal government is the largest lender of student loans.

Gender-affirming surgery on minors

At a rally Tuesday in Bluffton, Mace declared that her opponent “wants sex-change surgery on minor kids,” which is something that she is vehemently against.

“We shouldn’t be doing anything to any child under the age of 18,” she said at the Oct. 19 debate. “Let them decide that once nature has taken its course and it’s safer, and they can consent to those decisions.”

Andrews, a pediatrician, said she sees transgender children after they have tried to kill themselves following bullying and said that, statistically 50% of transgender children try to hurt themselves and 30% do.

“Let’s get the record straight,” she said. “I do not support gender-affirming surgery on minors, I never have, and those surgeries have never been performed in the Lowcountry.”