Crossroads 2026: South Carolina Governor’s Debate

by MARK POWELL

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The two leading candidates in the race to become South Carolina’s 118th governor fielded questions this week in the campaign’s only scheduled debate. And their answers painted two very different visions for the next four years.

This election is a transitional contest on several levels. For starters, outgoing governor Henry McMaster has held the office for a record ten years – serving half of former governor Nikki Haley‘s second term and winning two full, four-year terms on his own in 2018 and 2022.

To give you an idea of how much things have changed over that time, on January 17, 2017 – the day McMaster was sworn in – the average price of a gallon of gas in South Carolina was $2.07.

Additionally, a generational shift is at play. At age 79, McMaster is the oldest governor in state history. The two major party candidates to succeed him are state representative Jermaine Johnson, the 41-year-old Democrat nominee, and 53-year-old attorney general Alan Wilson, the Republican standard-bearer.

Whichever candidate wins next month, change will be coming to the governor’s office… but what form will it take?

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With so much riding on the results, it’s not surprising there was a mild undercurrent of tension as the two met inside a Columbia, S.C. television studio. The encounter was sponsored by Gray Media. Judi Gatson, anchor for WIS TV-10 (NBC – Columbia, S.C.) moderated the exchange, with questions contributed by reporters from other Gray television stations as well as from private citizens.

In one of the evening’s ironies, the candidates did their best messaging in their closing statements. Which is where we begin.

Let’s start with Johnson, whom polls show is the decided underdog in this contest: 

“If my opponent’s answers sound familiar, it’s because they are,” he said. “The same broken promises that we’ve been hearing for the last 24 years. Twenty-four years, they’ve been saying they’re gonna fix the roads. Twenty-four years, they’ve been saying they’re going to fight corruption. Twenty-four years, they’ve been saying they’re going to fix healthcare. Twenty-four years, they’ve been saying they’re going to fix the crime problem. Twenty-four years, they’ve been saying they’re gonna get rid of the income tax. Twenty-four years of broken promises. And that is exactly why we deserve a new South Carolina. A new South Carolina that we can be proud of.”

That’s as compelling an indictment of GOP-controlled South Carolina as you are going to hear…

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As for Wilson, he kept his focus squarely on the affordability issue – which is what carried him through a crowded Republican primary election against a host of better funded rivals.

“As your next governor, my number one goal, and everything I seek to do, will be to make living in our state more affordable for your family, to make our economy more profitable for your business, and to make our government more accountable to you,” Wilson said. “I’m a combat veteran who has led soldiers in hostile conditions… as your next governor, I will fight to eliminate the income tax, reduce your property taxes, root out fraud, waste and abuse in government, lower your utility rates, repair our broken roads and bridges, and promote a kid’s first education agenda.” 

Wilson is a traditional conservative. Johnson calls himself “a new kind of Democrat,” but embraces many traditional old-school liberal views. Neither strayed too far from his party’s core orthodoxy during their debate, either. And although their answers were often safely right and left of center, respectively, neither veered into radical territory. 

The questions were largely predictable because, let’s face it, the issues confronting the Palmetto State remain the same from one election cycle to the next. Still, the candidate’s differences were sometimes starkly revealing.

Take the question of data centers.

“It’s like the wild, wild West,” Johnson said. “They are operating all over the place. They’re just building things without any community involvement… That’s why I introduced the joint resolution to put a moratorium on any construction for data centers here. Because I truly believe the people of South Carolina should have the final say in anything that happens in their communities.”

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Wilson said a moratorium wasn’t the answer.

“The problem with my opponent’s proposal is it takes away choice from communities who might want a data center,” he said. “You’re taking everyone’s choice away. My view is this. It should be locally involved. As governor, I will fight and defend your right as a local community. If you don’t want a data center, you don’t have a data center.”

Also up for discussion was the scourge of fentanyl – something Wilson’s office has been fighting for years and consistently pushing lawmakers to support with tougher legislation.

“I wish you (Johnson) had voted for the homicide by fentanyl bill that the House passed last year that we advocated for,” he said. “As the state’s chief prosecutor, I’ve overseen the prosecution of thousands of drug traffickers and drug dealers. And what we’ve learned is fentanyl is in everything. Meth, cocaine, heroin, crack. It’s even in legal drugs, and OxyContin-like pills.”

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Fentanyl is killing South Carolinians, and the criminals pushing this poison into our communities need to be put behind bars. As Attorney General, I’ve prosecuted drug traffickers and fought for the Fentanyl-Induced Homicide Act to hold dealers accountable when their drugs kill someone. Jermaine Johnson didn’t vote on it. Public safety requires action, not talk.

— Alan Wilson (@AGAlanWilson) October 6, 2026

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“We have to vigorously prosecute it,” Wilson said. “We have to enforce the laws, and we have to support laws with those tough penalties. The homicide by fentanyl bill is a great bill that allows us to go after drug dealers.”

Allowed a rebuttal, Johnson pushed back hard.

“See, this is the problem with my opponent not being a part of the General Assembly or understanding exactly how things work,” he said. “The way that bill was set up was (to prosecute) one pin drop of fentanyl inside of a trash bag of marijuana. That’s the problem that we had in that bill. And if my opponent were part of the General Assembly, he would have understood that.” 

That remark clearly got under Wilson’s skin – who fired back at Johnson while answering an unrelated question about mental health.

“On the last question, I want to say something to my opponent: I know more about fighting fentanyl addiction and going after criminals who sell fentanyl than you will ever learn,” he said. “This is what I base my life on.”

“For the past 16 years, I have not been the aspiring governor,” Johnson shot back. “I’ve been actually on the ground, actually working for the people of South Carolina.”

That was as close to nastiness as it got during the exchange. Still, plenty remained to disagree on.

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On flock cameras, Johnson embraced a total ban of the controversial technology.

“I absolutely believe we should ban (them) in South Carolina,” he said. “It’s government overreach. It’s government intrusion, and people need to enjoy just a sense of privacy here.”

Wilson offered a more measured response, saying the state should “look at potential legislation that will put guardrails in place and possibly prosecute to the fullest extent all people who abuse that technology.”

“But if you’re a mother whose child has just been kidnapped or a relative has just been murdered, and that technology can help law enforcement catch, retrieve that child or catch that person, we want to give them the opportunity to use it,” he added.

On the income tax elimination issue – arguably the centerpieces of Wilson’s affordability agenda – the Republican nominee argued it was a matter of fairness. And competitiveness.

“I’ve always advocated that South Carolina should go to a 0% income tax for everybody,” he said. “We’re not going to pick winners and losers…. it also allows people to spend that money on other things, spend it on your family, spend it on investing it back into your community, into your business, grow your businesses, hire more employees.”

Johnson responded that Republicans have had plenty of chances to cut or eliminate the income tax – but have failed to do so.

“This is the problem with my opponent’s answer,” he said. “They’ve been talking for 24 years about getting rid of the income tax, but yet they have not done so yet. They have a supermajority in the House, a supermajority in the Senate, and the Republican governor. If they were gonna get rid of the income tax, why have they not done it already?”

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This is bigger than one debate. Jermaine Johnson is offering South Carolina a new direction and a fresh vision for what’s possible. People across our state are getting to see that vision for themselves. #SCGovernorDebate https://t.co/hSgIw2FJRW

— South Carolina Democratic Party (@scdp) October 6, 2026

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Johnson proposed upping the estimated 40% of South Carolinians who do not currently pay state income tax to 70% – which he “legalizing medicinal cannabis in this state and actually getting rid of the wasteful spending.”

On the issue of healthcare, Johnson pushed hard for increased federal funding.

“We must expand Medicaid in this state,” he said. “We’re one of ten states that has not expanded Medicaid. And we’re not going to just expand Medicaid just to be doing it. It’s a good economic policy. And we have to do this not just for us, but for the people of South Carolina, for all mothers and sons, and to make sure that everybody can get the health care they need.”

“Here’s the concern I have with Medicaid expansion,” Wilson responded. “You don’t have to go far to look at other states. North Carolina expanded Medicaid, and it’s grown by 93%, costs $42 billion a year… It accounts for 22% of their entire budget, up from 16% four years ago. Officials in North Carolina are saying the expansion of Medicaid and the growth of Medicaid is growing so fast, it’s outpacing the growth of revenues coming in North Carolina’s budget. If you lose all of that revenue because the federal government got you addicted to something, you’re not going to be able to afford to pay teachers’ raises or provide law enforcement services or other critical services.”

Wilson lost points with many traditional conservatives and libertarian voters by saying he supports passage of a hate crimes law, something that is anathema to many on the right.

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GOOD EVENING, SOUTH CAROLINA. Too many families across our state are working hard and still struggling to make ends meet. As Governor, I’ll bring a new generation of leadership to upend the status quo and make South Carolina safer and more affordable for you and your family. https://t.co/7UwAtiln4G

— Alan Wilson (@AGAlanWilson) October 6, 2026

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“Prosecutors can use that to enhance the underlying penalty by an extra five or ten years,” he said. “I’ve never opposed that. And I think, as governor, if they put a bill like that, that was an enhancement penalty, I would be open to signing it.”

“We absolutely need a hate crime bill,” Johnson said. “Now, I don’t know why my opponent just said all those words up here, but we all know that he has stood against a hate crime law here in South Carolina.” 

“Not once did he use his office to push it forward,” Johnson added on X. “Instead, when counties like Richland, Orangeburg, Charleston, and Spartanburg stepped up and passed their own hate crime ordinances because Columbia wouldn’t act.”

As he did throughout his primary campaign, Wilson repeatedly brought up affordability in his answers throughout the night, touching on it more frequently than Johnson. That’s a marked contrast from this year’s U.S. Senate race in South Carolina, which has seen the Democrat candidate – Dr. Annie Andrews – take the lead on the affordability issue.

Early voting for the general election runs from Monday, October 19, through Saturday, October 31 (except for Sunday, October 25), from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. EDT.

Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, 2026.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…

J. Mark Powell is an award-winning former TV journalist, government communications veteran, and a political consultant. He is also an author and an avid Civil War enthusiast. Got a tip or a story idea for Mark? Email him at mark@fitsnews.com.

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