Here, here or here or anywhere that matters, america is watching on cspan. Powered by cable. South carolina now where democrat Joe Cunningham debates governor mcmaster in that states 2022 race. Live coverage right here on cspan. We have had very successes and some unusual things and had to battle washington the whole time. I never seen so many bad ideas come out of one place but besides that we were able to prosper and we cut income taxes for the first time and paid teachers more and paid Law Enforcement officers more and we are going to continue doing that. It would be the greatest honor we would have to continue serving as governor and first lady of South Carolina and we ask for your vote. Mr. Cunningham thank you and good evening to the people at home watching. And thank you, governor, for being here. Im a father of a fouryearold son and im concerned about the state of South Carolina and the way its going. And just like you watching at home, im sick and tired of the divisiveness and the extremists in politics. Im running for governor to expand freedom in South Carolina, not restrict it. I want women to have the freedom to control their very own bodies. I want our veterans to have the freedom to use marijuana when they come back from serchg our country and legal eyes Sports Betting. And pay our teachers. I think the governor has had his chance. Its time for a new generation of leadership. The question goes to you, a stricter abortion bill has failed to make it out of the state legislature, the sixweek ban as for the constitutionality following the arguments. What should abortion law look like in south are carolina snr. Mr. Cunningham cunning i trust women to make their own Health Care Decisions and that is the two contrast between the two empeople you have on. Governor mcmaster wants to ban all abortions and no exceptions for rape, increst or the life of a mother. Folks, this is the most egregious form of overreach you can imagine. If a government and politicians come into your doctorso offices, thats why the consequences of this election are so dire because abortion ban comes to the governors desk, hell sign it and i will veto it. And that is the key difference between the options. Governor gov. Mcmaster no such bill is going to reach my desk. We never had a bill like that. And as we know, carolina abortions up to 24 weeks. That is six months. That is six months that roe allowed abortions for nil reason at all. That is the radical position. We know when it heart starts beating and pain is felt 1519, but none of the bills do what he said. I am confident what is going to happen is that our legislators will continue to work and they will come up with a bill if they come up with and we have the paincapable and heartbeat bill and i believe they will come up with a bill that is acceptable to most of the people of the state. That is the goal of what theyre doing. Did you want to respond to that . Mr. Cunningham i i was with a friend of mine, fran. Fran was raped and impresenting natured at age 12. And gave her access to health care and be able to terminate that. 88 pounds and 12yearold girl and scared but she had access to make sure own choices and had the freedom to do that. And governor mcmaster has said in the past. So tonight, South Carolina, we have the opportunity to tell you, if a bill comes to his desk without exceptions, governor mcmaster, will you veto it . We are not going to tell you mr. Cunningham at the he will veto he will sign a bill without exceptions. We are asking the questions. Economists are forecasting a recession, how would you help people in South Carolina after feeling the pain of high prices . Gov. Mcmaster most of what Bill Cunningham is dead wrong and knows better and trying to scare people and he shouldnt have those charges and ak cue accusations. Now what we will do. We have had since, even since mr. Biden took office and he has been an obstacle and fight him tooth and nail. We have tried to keep him from disrupting business in South Carolina. We have had a record of Capital Investment and over 5 billion. We have never done that before. We have cut taxes. Do you know the income tax rate in South Carolina have never been cut before . We cut them time from 7 and will go down to 6 . We have more people working right now than we ever had before and more money in our trust funds. And we have also for the last four years cut taxes for the unemployment insurance. I have the endorsement of the National Independent association of businesses and i have the endorsement, 75 of all of our sheriffs and Law Enforcement. My goal is to keep this state safe so people can work. The most important is education. Mr. Cunningham governor mcmaster to say he would veto a bill without exceptions. Folks, governor mcmaster and wanted to do without exceptions. Believe him when he said it the first time. When it comes to our economy, last year when gas prices were skyrocketing, we called on governor mcmaster to temporarily suspend the gas tax just like other states are doing. This wasnt a partisan solution. Republican governor down in georgia did the same thing. Governor mcmaster would not suspend the gas tax that would have provided immediate relief and not jeopardize of building projects because we had money coming in from covid relief. The fact is we want to eliminate the state income tax. South carolina has the highest income tax rate in the entire southeast. And with all due respect, he had 40 years to eliminate it. Tennessee and florida and texas, they are eeg unprecedented economic growth. We could be that economic white house for businesses. Grow or expand but we have to have new ideas and new vision. Gov. Mcmaster one way you have expansion is the way we have by letting the people work. And mr. Cunningham called for a statewide mask mandate. That would have disrupted the working lives of the people. And he was in favor of all of these Vaccine Mandates that the Biden Administration you said it in 2021. That was the one that was on 100 more employees in any business and you said my opposition was going to kill people in South Carolina. We took that case and had to fight mr. Biden again and went to the u. S. Supreme court and u. S. Supreme court said we were right. Mr. Cunningham was calling for something unconstitutional. Next question for the congressman. Is there a rebuttal . You have called for elimination of the state income tax. If you can get the legislature to approve it, how do we make up for the lost revenue . Mr. Cunningham i want to clarify and im against against Vaccine Mandates and its your choice and let people make their own choices. Lets be clear. Governor, you closed schools during the pandemic and closed businesses and boat ramps. Folks, we understand in South Carolina, we have the lowest Vaccine Distribution rates, the history of how governor mask master handled covid. As it relates to the state income tax, what we propose are new strings of revenue, legal eyeing marijuana and Sports Betting and we also have to eliminate these corporate handouts that governor mask master has given to his campaign donors. Up in rock hill and spent taxpayer money on an interstate to knowwhere. And go south. And we have industries and companies that are polluting our waters and picking our pockets. We need a new vision for South Carolina and we can eliminate and make up for the money by seeing unprecedented growth like texas and florida. Gov. Mcmaster allow those Vaccine Mandates to go to the National Guard and companies. And ruin an economy and if you need proof of that and all the states around the country. Thats what North Carolina did and virginia did. They are democrats. Hes a democrat and he said he would do it. As far as the state income tax, i remind you this is the first time our state income tax has been cut in the history of the South Carolina. It was raised to 7 and i know we want to reduce it more and that is a good start. As far, we didnt lose any money and built an interchange and put it ahead of schedule everywhere we can. And ahead of schedule on i95 and i26 and christy said we are putting 2 billion in widening those roads and doing six years ahead of schedule. And whatever tax credits, you got to pay back. South carolina is booming because we have a consistent hand on the throttle and great team that is working together to see people have goodpaying jobs and thats how you prosper. Mr. Cunningham 35 million jobs was pissed away and and we askee money that you campaigned in exchange. Gov. Mcmaster i didnt get any tax money. [indiscernible] mr. Cunningham thats the difference. We need a strong governor who will stand up to anybody and everybody so long as it means to standing up for South Carolina. And businesses want to come to our state. We have the best people in the world and i dont believe we should have corporate handouts to billionaires. They should want to come here on their own volition. If we have Great Schools and roads, businesses, want to move here and existing businesses, they want to expand. Governor mcmaster, we have an ongoing Teacher Shortage here in South Carolina and what will you do to recruit in higher poverty and more rural areas. Gov. Mcmaster thats something we have been working on for a long time and sometimes get the teachers to go there and dont stay. It is a rural area and i think we have to have the best teachers in the whole country in South Carolina and i dont want to pay an average, i would like to be above that. We have raised the teacher pay 10,000. Thats not enough. But we are doing everything for teachers. And one of the Fastest Growing places, they need more schools coming up most than anything. I have a task force that is working right now, retention and recruitment and retention that is headed by a number of people who are above and their job is determined to determine what else we can do. We have Law Enforcement officers in the schools. I have trained and certified, armed Law Enforcement officer in over 900, going on 1,000 schools out of about 1, 200. We had around 300 when we started and we have a Mental Health counselor and working with prisoner and home health and Human Services to have an emergency to start in florence or marion county. We have a lot to do to help the teachers. Mr. Cunningham this is one of the most pressing issues. A special session that isnt for hurricane relief, but wasnt called for fixing our roads or doing something about our high crime rate. Its called the rip away our freedoms of women. And folks, this Teacher Shortage is being felt by everyone. And some of us feel it more than others. When i drive off after school and door swings open and i see a brand new teacher, my heart sinks a bit because i think about the brawn bond that my son has formed and him having to start over from scratch. Folks, our teachers deserve a lot more. And i want a 10 raise for all teachers and starting salary up to 50,000 a year by the end of my administration. And teachers are leaving the trade because of governor mcmaster and leaving in droves because of it because they are disrespected and underpaid and overworked. I have sat down with teachers and they have told me that cyr politicians have failed them. Gov. Mcmaster we have raised the pay and raised it that 10,000. We are going to raise it some more and do it sooner than what he said. Teachers remember our teachers. They are a great influence in our lives and i can assure everyone this we are going to dg and everything to bear on it. If we dont have the best teachers in the teacher country, then we are going to be short changing our beautiful children. Gov. Mcmaster and one of the best speeches i think i have ever heard is one he made about body cameras. As a result of that, i would like to have more. And would like to have more for everyone. But we have a revolving door. A lot of it lands at the feet of our magistrates. 50, 60 magistrates and set bonds for Violent Crimes and goes to a circuit judge. The constitutional restraints and they are setting too low a bond or taking a small surty bond and walking away. And i asked the department of insurance to review the rules and regulations and shut down these baims bondsmen and not seeing the rules of the court are followed. We have to increase the penalties. Its time you need a rebuttal snr. Mr. Cunningham i reject this notion we have to choose between the 2nd amendment and gun safety laws. I believe we can have both. Senator pick any. I was on the floor of the u. S. House of representatives and his widow was up in the gallery watching down as i brought republicans to close the charleston loophole. South carolina is one of two states that doesnt have a hate crimes bill. And the morality of it. Listen, folks. Our state finds itself at the bottom of every list. I agree that we need stiffer penalties and bond reforms. The fact is these judges are letting criminals out on the streets have been appointed by governor mcmaster and his crime rate. We are going to stick with criminal justice reform. There were reforms following the protests in 2020 including improving policing standards. But the house allowed a federal law and to be tour and forfeiture reforms have gone nowhere. What would you support . Gov. Mcmaster there are a lot of good ideas as i mentioned about 70 of the sheriffs and solicitors in the state have endorsed my candidacy and one reason is that i have worked with them. Four years as United States attorney appointed by president reagan and eight years as attorney general. We have got to do all we can to see that these criminals dont have guns. And the way to do that is to enhance the laws as you mentioned. There are a lot of folks, a man running as a democrat for governor up in pennsylvania who wants to empty out half the jails. That kind of attitude is dangerous and is causing death and misery. We need to have reform and enhance the penalties but we have to see we are catching these people. Because you can put whatever penalty you want on on an offense. If the criminal doesnt think he is going to be caught and if he does get caught and can be let out on bond and disappear and maybe he goes to trial and maybe convicted or maybe the jury will let him off, but we have to be sure that we will have the sheriffs and the police and the techniques and equipment. And Joe Cunningham voted against tim scotts bill. Congressman, can you respond snr. Mr. Cunningham not true. Tim scotts bill never made it out of the senate. I never had the opportunity to vote it. Folks, if you are sitting at home, worrying about a crime rate and wondering what is the governors crime plan, you are living it, right now. Because South Carolina has the highest crime rate we have ever had in our states history. Almost under six years of governor mcmaster and eight years that he served as our states attorney general, folks. Our crime rate in South Carolina is higher than new york city and thats all under governor mcmaster. The governors program on violent offenders is not working and every person should feel safe when kids walk out the door to go to a church, movie theater. Right now, it is something to be concerned. There is a man james white who was arrested for attempted murder of a Security Guard and few days later he was released. And while he was out, he murdered a woman who was standing outside a bar. Our crime rate is out of control and something has to be done about it. And our Law Enforcement need more resources. Gov. Mcmaster some folks will say anything to get elected. Joe said he never had an opportunity to vote on tim scotts bill because it was in the senate. And you did not vote for that one and voted for Nancy Pelosis bill that would eliminate qualified immunity for Law Enforcement officers and all of that. I have read that bill that joe voted for and it was an attack on the police. And thats why the International Association of chiefs of police and the other organizations that studied it supported tim scotts bill. And also, i just want to remind everybody, when we started off and came into office, we had around 300 or maybe less of these officers trained Armed Police Officers in the schools every day. We are approaching 1,000 and we will have them in every school to make them safe. Andy, next question to you. Congressman, many in the Law Enforcement do not want total legal eyes marijuana even for medical use. You discussed one of your Campaign Issues is legal eyeing marijuana and constituents have doubts. How would you convince them this is the right thing to do snr. Mr. Cunningham first and foremost, i voted a bill that would ban chokeholds. He wants to bring up nancy pelosi. I took over 900 votes while i was in congress. And around 8 of those votes with were nancy pelosi. I was one of the most independent and one of the most bipartisan members of congress and that is the kind of governor im going to be, independent and thinking for myself. I talked to Police Officers who want to legal eyes marijuana and i talked to veterans and called me oldfashioned but if you put it on the line to serve our country and they come home with wounds we cant see, ptsd and they told me they need access to marijuana to sleep. They went to the governor and asked him and begged him and pleaded with him to legal eyes medical marijuana to get the medical treatment. Governor mcmaster turned his back on the veterans and so they called me. I have been advocating they have the medical freedom that they deserve because thats what they get. Where do you stand on legal eyeing marijuana . This is a question to you. Where do you stand on legal eyeing Recreational Marijuana is just great and go out and smoke a joint or sports or contest and horse racing. I think we have to be serious. These sports you can have a lot of freedom without having an organized Sports Betting thing in South Carolina. Thats gambling. A lot of people are opposed to it. And Recreational Marijuana, those are not the answers to the problems in South Carolina. Far from it. On that issue, i would echo congressman clyburn said, you need to grow up, joe. Mr. Cunningham im not going to apologize for fighting for our veterans. I served on the Veterans Affairs committee and i heard from a marine who ran from a roadside bomb. And he has flashbacks of that bomb. And he using marijuana. He deserves that freedom. And a lot of veterans are scared of addicted to opioids. Four years ago, governor mcmaster stood on the stage saying he was against medical marijuana. I support the bill. 90 of americans support it as well. But we have career politicians that are so disconnected from the rest of the country. I want to move our state forward. Question to you, governor. Gov. Mcmaster ki rebut . No. Concerns just like the abortion ruling that the Supreme Court issued that the court could reverse the gay precedent. If the Court Reverses the gay marriage ruling that it has in the past and throws it back to the states would you support legislation that rescind the amendment in the constitution . Gov. Mcmaster well, gay marriage it is in our constitution is not allowed and under our state law, it is not allowed. I would follow whatever the state law is. But maybe im oldnationed, a marriage ought to be between a man and woman and guys ought to play in guys sports and girls ought to have to play in girls sports. And i think that our traditions are strong and there for a reason. Back to the veterans, nobody honors our veterans more than i do. I am a veteran, by the way. And i didnt stay long enough to get retirement but we have eliminated on retirement tax whether you are here now. And the department of employment and work force, we prioritize the applications and the interest of voters. We reach out to the veterans to try and help them. And why is that. Every time i talk to new businesses, i tell them this is a military state with eight military bases. I signed the First Agreement with the United States army a month ago with people in the army when they get out, they get job interviews in South Carolina. Thats what we think about veterans. Mr. Cunningham for those of you who are just tuning in, its 2022 and governor mcmaster wants to ban samesex marriage. You have just heard that. We have politicians who are in government so long, governor mcmaster has been a politician longer than i have been alive and taking our state backwards. Governor mcmaster has been since the 1980s. This campaign that we are running is a campaign ran on freedom. And i dont care how are or who you love, i dont think its governments role to be getting in the middle of that or politicians role to rip away freedoms from women who want to make their own Health Care Decisions. And rights of veterans, we can expand medicaid and the government can do that. I want to expand medicaid on day one to make sure that health care is expanding. For those who have private insurance as well, your rates will go down. Governor, rebuttal. Gov. Mcmaster i dont care who you love or you dont love or who you want to live with, thats your business. Marriage is a special institution and that designation ought to be reserved for a man and a woman. As far as taking South Carolina backwards, everybody else is coming to South Carolina and from all over the world to invest in the people of South Carolina and this place and i have announced, announcements on companies coming into hire out people and they have invested 5. 2 billion and this year is not over and broken every record. We have more people working and people are moving that want to be here and to say we are going bab wardz, that is not a fact. We are booming and getting stronger every day and i will do everything we can. Do you believe our elections are safe, secure and accurate and will you accept the november 8 election in our state . Mr. Cunningham the peaceful transfer of power is a cornstone of our democracy. And there are ways in which we can improve our elections. I voted on a bill in congress that would end gerry gerrymandering. And voters should pick their politicians. Governor mcmaster signed a bill that gerrymanders all the districts. And ripping our democracy apart and i have seen it firsthand in washington, d. C. , what politicians that the only thing they have is losing the primary and once they get to the primary, the general election is all set. I believe in our Voter Registration and do away with straight ticket voting and just increases. We have one of five states. And democracy is one of those. We can have safe and secure elections and bring people together. But have to start with reforming our elections. You said you will accept the results . Mr. Cunningham thats right. Will you accept the results of our november 8 elections. D. M. Anand are our elections safe and accurate . Gov. Mcmaster we are safe and secure because we finished election reform and allowed two weeks of early voting and we kept that you have to have a witness on the absentee ballot and you have to be absentee and we had to fight with the local judge and the Supreme Court backed us up there where we kept the requirement. And require audits and the paper to be saved, electronic and you have a paper copy of the ballot and the experts say that the box that we allow sore is not in these machines and done everything to make sure our machines are working and people can vote easier to give them the right to vote. Vote straight ticket if you want to and dont have to punch the ticket and vote however you want in South Carolina however you want right now. And sign that bill, who was standing right by me, chair robinson, the chair of the republican party. Mr. Cunningham i dpee with the two weeks of early voting and needs to be a little bit more and end gerrymandering. Its ripping apart our democracy. Every person should have every part of confidences. And people say im voting for this congressional seat and i dont know if it matters or not because the scales have been imbalanced and politicians have put their thumb like the governor. I would have vetoed that bill that cut up our maps. Not a worst gerrymandering map. It needs to be done away with. It increases partisanship and this is a direct result of that. You have backed President Trump, where do you agree or disagree . Gov. Mcmaster i agree with him cutting on taxes and the economy was booming and all independent. Our friends were can confident in our support and confident and our enemies were petrified and mr. Putin went into crima and nothing for four years and now he is back in there again. But i disagree with President Trump on the off jor drilling and offshore testing and told him so and they retracted that but not after we had to make a pretty good case. But also had an executive order that all of my agents not to permit anyone seeking to build or install any device that could be used for offshore drilling on the show. That is an order for the executive agencies right now. With what issues do you degree with President Biden on and what do you not support him . Mr. Cunningham i agree what President Biden of ex punking the records of lowlevel criminals. I want to do that for lowlevel drug offenders. Police officers are going after nonviolent. Governor mcmaster want to lock up veterans that use marijuana. I dont. As far as where i disagree with President Biden and how he pulled out of afghanistan. That turned out to be a disaster and how he is handling our border crisis. I may be a democrat but i was the first democrat to say President Biden should not run for reelection. So Speaker Nancy Pelosi that i would not vote for her for speaker and thats what it means to be an independent and pipe. Thats what our country needs more of. We dont have enough officials to not care who gets credit. Im concerned about making our state more prosperous and i will work with anyone. Do you have a rebuttal . Gov. Mcmaster no. Sports gambling is becoming popular. You have advocated for allowing Sports Betting in South Carolina. A lot of folks have concerns about that. How do you convince the lawmakers who would need to approve this and the constituents who may have doubts. How would you convince them . If they worry about mr. Cunningham this is about freedom. And this is about giving people of South Carolina more freedom. And this has been going on any ways. People are using marijuana any ways. If it is going on, the state regulate it, tax it and give that money to teachers or roads which are dead last and second most dangerous. There is a point on the medical Marijuana Bill and republicans are supporting Sports Betting. I dont care who comes up with the idea, i want to move our state forward and out of the past and into the future and requires new ideas. Folks at home have been watching for several months now. I challenge you to think of one new idea that you have seen from this governor fy he is entitled to another four years. We fire football coaches after a few seasons and why hire a politician. We are running on new ideas versus his campaign of new ideas. Gov. Mcmaster a lot of people do in other states that we arent going to dovment i dont see all the things we are doing and doing well, we are getting people employed frozen the television at universities. And we have quadrupled the amount of scholarships and put in 79 million to go to technical colleges and put money for poor colleges to go to fouryear kindergarten. We are doing things and new things. We have a cyber project going on right now and started when then the president of the university brought a group nobody has ever heard called jack, say jack or Something Like that, brought it down from west point and we had a meeting at the university of South Carolina and since then we are putting money into the dream port and collaborations with georgia with the department of defense has headquartered their cyber initiatives and we require computer training for students to get out of high school, we and arkansas and Asa Hutchinson came here to celebratep we are doing well. I listened to congressman cunningham and sounds like the state is what does that tell you . And make money by building businesses and betting people educated and trained and having you working. Thats how you do it. Mr. Cunningham we have the lottery and things are going on any ways. But again, this comes down to freedom and there are so many people want to place a bet on saturday or sunday and doing it illegally. Why is the state missing out on this critical source of revenue . And we have to find the money to do the things that our state needs to do. I ask the viewers at home if you are better off than you were six years ago because judging from the statistics, we are dead lat in roads and second most dangerous, teacher pay is at or near the bottom along with health care. This requires a new vision, folks. And thats what our campaign is bringing. There have been 15 weatherclimaterelated events, moss recently her hurricane ian, do you believe that Climate Change is fueling these storms, strengthening these storms and making them more frequent and what can be done. Gov. Mcmaster i dont know what is causing it but they are becoming more frequent. Every year we go out there and we have the National Guard and the department of transportation and highway patrol, everybody dealing and everyone in between and we have a great team and have been ready and this last hurricane. I dont know whats causing it but they are moral frequent. And all we can do, we cant stop it. All we can do is try to be smart what we put in the air and water. And several years ago, i created the floodwater commission. It is a Magnificent Group of scientists and professors and experts and all things, ocean, water, air and land about this document and we have a Resilience Office which i have created and Cabinet Agency and it is its charge is to see what we can do to combat this changing violent climate. And they are talking about reefs or offshore planning and sweet grass or some kind of grass and not long ago they planted two million trees. Congressman, Climate Change. Mr. Cunningham i was on that. One phone call. Thats not the solution. These task forces are not doing anything. Your task force on crime and teacher pay. We are a coastal state and not sure whats going these events, sure as hell find out otherwise we will be subjected to this year after year and year. 2022 and Climate Change is real and it is a threat and not to our coastal areas but to our entire state. I like to view this as an opportunity, an opportunity to lead and step up and lead and be first, not last. There are some short tesm term actions that should be taken, including building up our infrastructure and when there is an infrastructure bill that came through the state, it would have repaired our roads and governor mcmaster vee vetoed it. I would have signed it. And Renewable Energy resources, electric cars, vehicles and doing what we can. Its not going to happen overnight but we need to hook at the economic opportunities, Solar Opportunities and those new industries. Thats the vision i have and i will take it spoke the governors mansion. Gov. Mcmaster i am aware of all that and i had the First Electric vehicle summit in greenville and i had Car Companies there and very excited and im chairman of the Southern States energy board and will take powering and issued an executive order to get the department of transportation, department of motor vehicles, the other agencies that bear on the issue of electric vehicles and charging stations and all of that, and were not to have a plan, we are doing many, many new things whether on the cutting edge and one reason that people are coming to South Carolina and want a vacation. Last year we had three pga. This is a you beautiful state. Start with congressman cunningham, if elected, what would be your First Priority on day one . Mr. Cunningham increase medicaid and increase 40,000 new jobs in the process. Other states have done it. And inject money into our economy and expand health care to hundreds of thousands of people and Health Insurance to our veterans, people who have given so much. And given our teachers more money. It is heart brean breaken. Gov. Mcmaster expanding medicaid is more ening tanglement. I had to fight President Biden with his vaccine mandate. We have 2 3 of our strength. Our economy and environment and education. Education is the most important. We need to take debate steps now and we are doing it. Mike pence in indiana expanded medicaid. Thank you to all of our candidates for swroining us. We will be back here on november 2 for the superintendent of education debate. Thanks fortuning in. Good night. Captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org. Cspan is unfiltered view of government funded by these Television Companies including buckeye broadband. 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