In sole SC gov debate, McMaster and Cunningham clash over same-sex marriage, abortion

In their only South Carolina governor’s race debate, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster and his Democratic challenger Joe Cunningham clashed Wednesday over abortion rights, same-sex marriage and the COVID-19 pandemic response, while equally portraying one another as the wrong person to hold the job.

McMaster, who at age 75 is running for a second term after he was first elevated to governor in 2017 when Nikki Haley stepped down to join the Trump administration, touted his work in his first term and said the state has fought back against obstacles put in place by the Biden administration.

Cunningham, 40, a former coastal congressman who upset a Republican to claim the 1st District in 2018, tried to paint McMaster as a governor of the past, and asked voters to elect a new, more progressive future for the state.

“I’m running for governor to expand freedom in South Carolina, not restrict it,” Cunningham said. “I want women to have the freedom to control their very own bodies.”

Cunningham called banning abortion the “most egregious form of government overreach you can imagine,” and criticized McMaster for staying silent on whether he’d sign legislation to outlaw abortions without exceptions. McMaster has clarified that exceptions for sexual assault, the mother’s life and fatal fetal anomaly — allowed under the state’s six-week law — are reasonable.

This year, McMaster supported legislative efforts to further ban abortion access after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe. v Wade. With a six-week ban on the books, though temporarily blocked by the state Supreme Court as the high court mulls its constitutionality, legislators have sought to narrow the law even more.

In response, McMaster, seeking to portray Cunningham as extremist, called the Democrat’s position “radical.”

“We know when that heart starts beating at six to eight weeks, we know that pain is felt sometimes 15 to 19 (weeks), but none of the (State House) bills that are pending right now do what he says,” McMaster said.

“Most of what Joe Cunningham just said is dead wrong and he knows better, and he’s trying to scare people,” McMaster added.

The two also sparred over same-sex marriage and whether the Legislature should eliminate the state ban given the U.S. Supreme Court legalized it in 2015.

“I would follow state law whatever the state law is,” said McMaster, who has opposed same-sex marriage in the past. “Maybe I’m old fashioned, but I think ... marriage ought to be between a man and the woman just like I think boys ought to play in boys’ sports and girls ought to play in girls’ sports.”

Cunningham, whose campaign over the last several weeks has pushed McMaster to take a stance on same-sex marriage, seemed surprised by the governor’s answer, issuing a “wow” to his response.

“It’s 2022 and Gov. McMaster wants to ban same-sex marriage,” Cunningham said. “Gov. McMaster has been a politician, literally longer than I’ve been alive. He’s been taking our state backwards the entire time. Gov. McMaster has been leading South Carolina into the 1950s since 1980s.”

COVID, incentives and DC politics

The two also clashed on the governor’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and whether Cunningham backed a vaccine mandate — Cunningham says he didn’t but encouraged people to get the shot — and argued over whether it was right to reopen businesses so quickly.

“I am against vaccine mandates and I have been because it’s your body, it’s your choice. Politicians need to be consistent and let people make their own healthcare decisions,” Cunningham said. “Governor, you closed schools during the COVID pandemic. You also closed businesses, you even closed boat ramps.”

In response, McMaster defended his office’s handling of the pandemic.

“We took that (vaccine mandate) case ... to the U.S. Supreme Court and the Supreme Court said we were right; they said that was unconstitutional,” McMaster said.

They differed over whether using millions of taxpayer dollars was wise to build an interchange in Rock Hill off Interstate 77 after Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper pulled his NFL team’s planned operations out of the state.

Cunningham criticized the governor for spending taxpayer money to cover the project, as McMaster defended the decision, countering the state didn’t lose money because it never gave incentives to Tepper.

“We built an interchange and put it ahead of schedule,” McMaster said. “He (Tepper) didn’t get a penny from taxpayers. Whatever tax credits he got, he’s got to pay back because he didn’t do what he said he was going to do.”

Both were also asked where they agreed or disagreed with the standard bearers for each of their parties.

McMaster said he agreed with former President Donald Trump’s work to cut taxes.

“He did that and it worked. The economy was booming. We were oil independent, our friends were confident and supporting friendship and our enemies were petrified,” McMaster said.

But he said they disagreed on offshore testing and drilling, an initiative the administration later reversed.

“I told him (Trump) so, and they finally retracted that, but not after we had to make a pretty good case,” McMaster said.

Cunningham, who said previously President Joe Biden, age 79, should not seek a second term, said he agreed with the president’s recent order to expunge records of low-level marijuana offenders.

“I want to legalize marijuana. I’d love to do that on the state level as well with low-level drug offenders because I believe that police officers are using way too much time to go after nonviolent marijuana users,” Cunningham said.

But he criticized Biden for his decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan and his handling of the southern border with Mexico.

“I may be a Democrat, but I’m not a cheerleader,” Cunningham said.

About two weeks out from the Nov. 8 general election, South Carolina voters have already started casting their ballots courtesy of a new state law allowing two weeks of early voting.

McMaster has so far raised $2.1 million since July 1, according to the latest state fundraising report, bringing his haul for the cycle to $7.6 million. He ended the reporting period with more than $2 million in the bank.

Cunningham, meanwhile, raised $1.2 million in the latest reporting period, his campaign said, bringing his total raised to $3.4 million since he launched his bid in April 2021.

Though the two often disagreed on the debate stage Wednesday night, they did agree on at least one area: both said they will accept the election results no matter the outcome.

“I believe that peaceful transfer of power is a cornerstone of our democracy,” Cunningham said.

McMaster said, “I am confident that our elections are going to be safe and secure because we did finish election reform.”