Nancy Mace and Joe Cunningham go on the attack during first SC congressional debate
For Democrat Joe Cunningham and Republican Nancy Mace, their objectives during Monday’s high-stakes debate were largely the same: to convince voters that their opponent is not worth electing, can’t be trusted and, ultimately, would not be the right representative to represent Lowcountry values.
In making that case, though, their methods differed wildly.
In the first televised debate for South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District race, Mace introduced herself repeatedly to voters as a single working mom and as a state lawmaker.
Mace, 42, also mentioned her title as a state lawmaker more than 18 times during the night’s hour-long debate — the same number of times both candidates mentioned House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Cunningham, the Democratic incumbent who is considered one of the most vulnerable freshman Democrats in the House, touted his record of putting his district’s needs over his political party.
Cunningham, 38, also said 15 times that he had earned the endorsement of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a pro-business group that has historically backed Republican candidates.
The debate, televised from Beaufort, was hosted by SCETV and The Post and Courier.
The most heated moment of the night came during a question about police reform that quickly devolved into a heated exchange about Mace’s recent absenteeism in the State House.
“If my opponent really supported first-responders, she probably would have been there to vote on a bill last week that would have helped them, but she missed 55 votes just last week,” Cunningham said. “She can’t show up and do her job here in Columbia, she’s not going to be able to show up and do her job in D.C.”
Mace fired back.
“I missed a few votes last week because I’m a single working mom home-schooling her children. You have no idea what a working family —” Mace said, briefly catching herself before continuing, “You don’t have any idea what kind of problems or challenges we are facing today. You should be ashamed of yourself and disqualified based on this personal attack.”
And so the debate unfolded, one verbal blow at a time.
They sparred on climate change, with Mace saying she isn’t sure climate change is real because scientists have changed their minds before as they obtained more information.
“Scientists once said the earth is flat. It is not,” Mace said.
Cunningham, who lives on James Island, said climate change is impossible to ignore if you live in the Lowcountry, where the effects were seen as recently as last week when flood waters rose in downtown Charleston.
“I am going to say what my opponent Nancy Mace won’t say,” Cunningham said. “I believe in science.”
At times, Cunningham and Mace were so focused on their lines of attack that they failed to answer questions from the moderators, who reminded them they had veered off topic.
“Usually it’s the challenger or the person who is down in the polls who is the one who will be doing the attacking,” said Gibbs Knotts, a political scientist at the College of Charleston, who watched the debate. “Tonight, they were both in attack-mode. Maybe that’s a sense of how close this race really is.”
Flipping the seat
South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District was a solid Republican seat until Cunningham narrowly won it in 2018, ending a nearly 40-year streak of GOP representation in the Charleston-anchored district overnight. The results stunned political watchers across the nation.
Almost immediately, national Republicans vowed to win back the seat. Proud of their newfound territory along the Southeastern coastal spine of red South Carolina, national Democrats pledged to defend it.
So far, Cunningham has raised more than $4 million in the contest, and has about $3.1 million in cash on hand as of June 30. Mace, meanwhile, has raised just shy of $1.9 million and has just over $740,000 in the bank.
It’s also a district where President Donald Trump triumphed over Hillary Clinton by 13 percentage points in 2016. During the debate, Cunningham seemed to acknowledge that political tight-rope.
“I am proud that President Trump has already signed numerous bills of mine into law,” Cunningham said.
Mace, a Daniel Island Republican and the first woman to graduate from The Citadel Corps of Cadets, sought to poke holes in Cunningham’s claims, calling his record as “socialism at its best.”
“You can’t be independent when you vote with Nancy Pelosi 90% of the time,” Mace said.
Mace also insinuated that Pelosi is the one who does Cunnigham’s work for him in Washington.
“Maybe you don’t read all the bills you vote on. Maybe Nancy Pelosi reads them for you I suppose,” Mace said. “Ever since he’s been in office, it’s been the Democratic Party over the Lowcountry.”
Cunningham, who reminded voters in his opening statement that he voted against Pelosi for Speaker of the House, objected to the frequent connections with Pelosi. Fifty minutes into the hour-long debate, he punched back.
“Look, if you’re so hell-bent on running against Nancy Pelosi I would suggest you buy yourself a plane ticket to California. But so long as you’re in the Lowcountry and you’re in the 1st Congressional District, you need to run against me,” Cunningham said.
Partisan arguments
In a more subtle fight for the middle, both candidates sought to highlight their experience working across the aisle.
Mace said her bill to ban the shackling of pregnant inmates in South Carolina passed unanimously before Republican South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster signed it into law.
Cunningham highlighted that McMaster stood alongside him when his bill to permanently ban offshore drilling off the Atlantic passed in the U.S. House in 2019.
Yet, both of them still tried to appeal to their base. When asked if she agreed that Black lives matter, Mace responded, “Black Lives Matter” before adding, “all lives matter” as well.
Cunningham modified a one-liner made famous in 2007 by Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, when Cunningham said, “Clearly my opponent can’t answer any question without a noun, a verb and Nancy Pelosi.”
At the end of the night, both campaigns claimed victory in statements sent after the debate wrapped. Both accused the other of being too partisan to represent the needs of South Carolina’s 1st District voters.
A second debate, which will be hosted by ABC News 4, is scheduled for 7 p.m. Oct. 6 at Charleston Southern University in North Charleston.
This story was originally published September 28, 2020 at 10:43 PM.
