Democrats running for SC governor pitch plans for affordability

COLUMBIA — The three Democrats running for governor differed Wednesday night on how to make living in South Carolina more affordable while agreeing the state should expand Medicaid eligibility and legalize medical marijuana.

State Rep. Jermaine Johnson of Richland County, Charleston attorney Mullins McLeod and Upstate businessman Billy Webster laid out their plans, which included reducing taxes and housing costs.

Johnson and McLeod said they would use the bully pulpit of the governor’s office to advocate for a livable minimum wage in South Carolina, which doesn’t have a state minimum wage law. Instead, it follows the federal standard, unchanged since 2009 at $7.25 an hour.

McLeod said it should be $18 an hour. Johnson didn’t specify a number.

“I want people in South Carolina to imagine going to your one well-paying job and coming home to your safe neighborhood after picking your children up from a well-performing public school,” Johnson said. “That’s what I want to see for you in South Carolina. In order to address that, it starts with establishing a livable minimum wage here.”

All three candidates are seeking to become the first Democratic governor since voters elected Gov. Jim Hodges in 1998.

Wednesday’s hourlong debate, hosted and broadcast by South Carolina Educational Television, took place less than a week ahead of the June 9 statewide primaries.

More than 207,000 South Carolinians had already voted through Tuesday; 64% of them voted a Democratic ballot, according to the state Election Commission. Early voting continues through Friday.

The victorious Democratic will face the winner of the Republican primary in November to replace Gov. Henry McMaster, the state’s longest-serving governor.

Differing tax plans

The conversation started around the question of whether taxes need to be increased or decreased and if the state should zero out its income tax.

“I had a very smart Republican business partner who said to me, you can’t cut your way to prosperity,” said Webster, chief of staff to Gov. Dick Riley in Columbia and Washington, when Riley was secretary of education.

“We cannot eliminate the state income tax and even have a state that is recognizable in 10 years,” he said.

That’s because income tax revenue makes up about 45% of the state’s proposed $14.4 billion spending plan for the budget year that begins July 1.

“Pick something you like: childcare, healthcare, conservation, infrastructure. I don’t care what it is. There will be no money to pay for it,” said Webster, who co-founded payday lending giant Advance America after leaving the Clinton administration.

SC governor signs bills reducing income tax rates, boat property taxes

Legislation pushed by Republicans this year and signed into law March 30 lowers income tax rates.

Almost 43% of tax filers will pay less in the first year, reducing state revenues by nearly $309 million initially. But about 23% of filers will pay more, while 35% should see no change, according to the latest estimate by the state Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office.

The law calls for rate reductions to continue as the economy grows, until the tax is eliminated at some point in the future.

“Eliminating state income tax is a talking point by Republicans,” Webster said.

One tax break that Webster does agree with is reduced property taxes for older South Carolinians.

Since 2000, homeowners who are 65 and older, blind or permanently disabled haven’t paid property values on the first $50,000 of their home’s assessed value.

SC Senate advances bill cutting property taxes for seniors. Income taxes are up next.

Webster wants to see that raised to $150,000, which matches a plan the Senate passed. It could become law as part of state budget negotiations.

To get the full break, homeowners must be taxpaying residents of South Carolina for at least 10 years. People living here for at least five years would not pay taxes on $75,000, and anyone else over 65 could continue to claim the $50,000 Homestead Exemption already allowed in state law.

Johnson, a former professional basketball player who lives in Hopkins, agreed with Webster that zeroing out income taxes in the state is an impossible GOP campaign promise.

He noted that about 45% of tax filers paid no income tax under the prior tax code. That’s reduced to 35% next year under the new law.

While he doesn’t think it’s feasible to eliminate income taxes, Johnson wants to keep cutting them, so that 70% of tax filers have zero tax liability.

He also called for reducing property tax rates paid by small business owners.

“That’s who we need to support, because small businesses are the backbone of our communities,” he said.

Most small businesses pay a rate of 6%, compared to 4% rates negotiated by some of the largest manufacturers that locate in the state.

As for McLeod, he wants the state to stop offering incentive packages to large manufacturers altogether, referencing deals the state has made with Volvo in the Lowcountry and Scout Motors in the Midlands.

“I’m not aware of a single person I’ve met in the last 10 months or any point in my life who writes on their tax return, ‘You have my permission to give my hard-earned money to your for-profit donor.’ But that’s exactly what this incredibly corrupt political class system does every single year,” the Charleston attorney said. “They tell us it’s economic development. Well, I have another word for you. It’s called stealing.”

Seeking $150M more, Commerce shifts blame to SC agency not included in Scout negotiations

“When I’m governor, public money will only be used for the public benefit,” he continued. “And any unused portion of those funds will be returned to, guess who, the taxpayer, because that’s the person who earned that dollar to begin with.”

Medicaid expansion and a minimum wage

All three candidates talked about the importance of expanding Medicaid as a way to improve maternal and infant health.

South Carolina is among 10 states that have refused to expand eligibility of the government-funded health care program to more poor adults, as intended by the 2010 federal law known as Obamacare.

But Webster went further, calling an expansion “the best thing we can do to help citizens with the affordability crisis.”

That would require convincing the GOP-dominated Legislature to approve it.

In 2024, legislators voted to create a committee to consider expanding Medicaid as part of a larger study on how to improve access to healthcare in the state. But McMaster vetoed it.

Then the massive federal law signed by President Donald Trump last July made an expansion more difficult.

Webster also said the state could make insurance and housing more affordable by better enforcing and expanding existing state laws.

For example, he said, the state should raise its cap on tax breaks for affordable housing. Not doing so, he said, is “killing the market.”

Legalizing marijuana

While agreeing that medical marijuana should be legalized, the candidates differed on the specifics.

None, however, proposed legalizing marijuana for recreational use.

SC law enforcement officials ask legislators not to legalize THC hemp products

McLeod said he heard from a man in Charleston who has sickle cell disease and would get relief from the pain if he could use marijuana medicinally with a prescription.

Webster said he saw the value of marijuana in managing pain when his ex-wife was battling an aggressive form of breast cancer.

But he wants THC drinks and gummies heavily regulated.

Beyond legalizing medical marijuana, Johnson said he would advocate for a law pardoning anyone convicted of a non-violent, marijuana-related drug crime.

In South Carolina, governors don’t have the ability to pardon people.

“We have to make sure that we are restoring families, bringing them back together, and getting rid of those old, antiquated laws that have ripped so many families apart for generations,” he said.