Ralph Norman

NEWBERRY— Four of the six Republican candidates to be South Carolina’s next governor met each other on the same stage for the first time, offering up their visions for the state as voters pick its first new leader in a decade this year.

As it turns out, most of those visions are very similar.

In an hour-long televised debate April 1 carried statewide by Gray Television, the candidates in attendance – Attorney General Alan Wilson, U.S. Reps. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman and state Sen. Josh Kimbrell – matched one another on nearly every question asked of the moderators.

All pledged to cut taxes and support school choice. All balked at gun control as a solution to gun violence, and expressed concerns with the pace of South Carolina’s rapid population growth. All said they believed the state’s gas tax should be suspended amid the ongoing war with Iran, and that the state’s cost of living had grown to untenable levels for many.

But in a subdued debate in a race that so far has been defined by caustic attacks on social media and in the press, the differences between the candidates was not necessarily in the substance of their positions, but the manner in which they approached them.

Kimbrell, a former talk show host and member of the state Legislature since 2020, pitched himself as a conservative reformer with an innate knowledge of the legislative process and the ability to lead collaboratively with the legislature.

Mace pitched herself as a policy visionary, emphasizing her own personal efforts to secure state funds and assisting constituents overseas and promoting a plan to eliminate the state’s income taxes by freezing spending that would still require the legislature’s approval to take effect.

Wilson, the state’s longtime attorney general, promoted the debate’s significance as a job interview before the people of South Carolina. He positioned himself as the figure best situated to reform the state’s bureaucracy from the inside out and as the only person to defend President Donald Trump’s agenda in court.

Norman, a businessman aligned with the hardline South Carolina Freedom Caucus, portrayed himself as prospective CEO for the state, vowing to slash the size of government no matter “who it steps on,” he said.

Here are the highlights:

The future of gambling in South Carolina

Some of the biggest breaks among the candidates came around the future of gambling as the grapples with the proliferation of online sports betting and the prospect of a new destination casino in the historically economically depressed Interstate 95 corridor.

Norman said he would oppose casinos and gambling period, and appeared to suggest his opponents may have taken campaign contributions from figures involved in the gaming industry. Wilson, who opposes brick and mortar casinos, said he was open to looking into sports betting amid the proliferation of new areas like prediction markets, but that he would closely mirror the desires of law enforcement.

Mace said she would like to see the question of gambling put to a referendum in an effort for “everyone to have a say.”

While Kimbrell said he did not believe South Carolina “should be Atlantic City” in his opposition to most gambling, he said that there could be benefits to a type of resort destination in an area where economic opportunities—like the I-95 corridor—are currently sparse.

National Guard to the Middle East

South Carolina’s governor cannot refuse a presidential order to dispatch the National Guard to foreign conflicts, as Wilson – an officer in the South Carolina National Guard and a combat veteran – noted onstage.

Kimbrell, who expressed the strongest support for deployment, argued countries like Iran “hate Christians,” hate Israel, and hate the United States.

“Yes I would deploy the South Carolina National Guard,” he said.

Wilson agreed, but added he would support and advocate for South Carolina guardsmen to serve in a diplomatic or non-combat capacity if enlisted to fight.

Mace largely agreed with Wilson, sharing her own experiences visiting troops overseas, while Norman said if the president requested it, he would do it, praising Gov. Henry McMaster’s decisions last year to dispatch members of the S.C. Guard to Washington D.C.

Lack of attacks

Kimbrell, an underdog in the race, commented to reporters after the debate that he had been surprised by the civil tone of the first showdown, particularly given caustic attacks between Mace and Wilson in which she had openly attacked the sitting attorney general.

Onstage, the two appeared friendly, shaking hands and appearing to trade pleasantries off camera. “I didn’t come here to attack anybody,” Wilson said after the debate.

Mace, when asked about her lack of attacks against Wilson, cracked a smile.

“You want me to give away my whole political strategy?” she joked.

“There's not a need for us to do that,” she added. “I want to be very policy-driven and substantive right now.”

Missing candidates

The roster onstage was notably incomplete. Millionaire activist Rom Reddy, a late entrant into the race, did not attend Wednesday’s debate—citing a scheduling conflict—but had already committed to participating at an upcoming second debate at the College of Charleston set for April 21.

The most conspicuous absence was Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, whose team in the weeks leading up to the debate accused the South Carolina Republican Party of a “grift” for attempting to fundraise via debate sponsorships.

On the main road into town, signs boosting Wilson and Norman’s campaigns dominated the landscape while outside the debate hall an unidentified man in a chicken costume held a cardboard sign that read “Chicken Pam.”

“The four of us are up there tonight, we all have our disagreements. We've all had our differences,” Wilson told reporters after the debate. “But at least we showed up.”