McMaster, Cunningham debate focuses on abortion, gun safety, marijuana

Editor's note: A previous version of the article said that 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling guaranteed abortions up until 20 weeks. It is 24 weeks and the article has been corrected to reflect that.

Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, vying to be South Carolina's longest-serving governor, and his opponent, former U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham from the Democratic party clashed during a Wednesday debate over key issues such as abortion access, gun regulations, criminal justice reform, how to build the state's economy and marijuana legalization.

In a state where elections tend to be extremely partisan and are often guided by the "R" and the "D" behind one's name, both McMaster and Cunningham fashioned themselves in ways that would appeal to their target voter bases.

Here are the key takeaways from the debate:

Abortion access and banning same sex marriage

As the fate of abortion access and possibly same-sex marriage in the state remains precarious and uncertain, the two candidates could not have been more different in how they outlined their positions.

Right off the bat, Cunningham centered much of his position on reproductive rights and a woman's right to choose and said that he supported the original 24 week timeline under the framework set by Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

He called the current six-week abortion ban, currently blocked by the SC Supreme Court, the most "egregious form of government overreach." If such a bill were to come to Cunningham's desk, he would've denied the bill by vetoing it, he said.

But McMaster wouldn't do that, he said. Instead, McMaster would sign the bill.

McMaster rebutted and said that the 24 week time period meant that the pregnancy would have gotten as far as six months − a time span where the fetus would be able to feel pain, he said. McMaster said that the six-week bill would remedy that.

Cunningham doubled down and said that that larger issue was centered around the state lawmakers' attempt to pass a law that would ban all abortions and have no exceptions for pregnancies due to rape and incest. He asked McMaster if such a bill were to come to his desk, would the governor veto it?

McMaster retorted by saying that Cunningham's claims were incorrect and that "he was trying to scare people."

Regarding same-sex marriage, both candidates narrativized a generational difference in their understanding of marriage.

When asked if McMaster would support banning same-sex marriage, McMaster said that since the state constitution currently bans same-sex marriage, he would follow the law. He said that he didn't care who one loved, however, marriage, he said, was a "special institution." "Maybe I'm old fashioned," he said. "But marriage is between a man and a woman."

Cunningham shook his head and said that it was 2022, and McMaster wanted to ban same-sex marriage. He said that older career politicians like McMaster had calcified in their thought.

The economy, vaccine mandates and how to build the economy

McMaster said that the state economy was growing and had attracted major investments from all over the country and overseas. He brought up the bill that cut personal income tax cut this year and how the best way to build an economy was allowing people to work.

Vaccine mandates, he said, were the biggest impediment to the state's ability to support its workforce and that his government had fought the Biden administration in courts to withdraw regulations that mandated companies with federal contracts or companies with 100 or more employees to require the COVID-19 vaccine.

McMaster accused Cunningham of being pro-vaccine mandate to which Cunningham said that he was against them and that any type of government overreach was unacceptable to him. During his half of the debate, Cunningham said that instead of reducing income tax, he wanted to eliminate it. He said that he would recover the lost revenue by legalizing marijuana and allowing sports betting.

Cunningham's policies on marijuana, both medical and recreational, are extremely unpopular among law enforcement agencies who have time and again blockaded any efforts to pass even the most "conservative" medical marijuana bill. However, Cunningham has maintained that much of what he is suggesting is already at work in different states.

He zeroed in on McMaster's campaign donations and said he would stop "corporate handouts," accusing McMaster of getting monetary support from business owners such as David Tepper, owner of the Carolina Panthers, who terminated the plan to build a stadium in Rock Hill. The move catapulted into an ongoing legal battle between the city and the hedge fund investor over millions of dollars of misappropriated public funds.

Criminal justice reform

Cunningham's position on the right to bear arms, he said, was focused on targeting the "bad people with guns." The ones who can buy guns without complete background checks. Back when he was in the U.S. Congress, he had led a bill that would close the "Charleston loophole," a gap in policymaking that allowed gun sellers to sell guns before a background check was completed.

This loophole's name had its origins in the 2015 Mother Emanuel Church massacre, where the perpetrator, Dylann Roof, a white supremacist, was able to buy a gun before his background check finished its course.

McMaster said that though the massacre was heartbreaking, any attempts to limit the second amendment may end up taking the guns away from "good people." Instead, the focus, he said, should be on catching perpetrators and not allowing them to break laws related to bail bonds. McMaster recently released a plan to crack down on bail bondsmen who failed to report those who had not complied with conditions set by the bond.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: SC governnor race: McMaster, Cunningham butt heads over abortion, gun safety, marijuana