The Political Beat Candidate Guide: South Carolina Governor (D)

Three candidates are vying to be the Democratic nominee for South Carolina Governor: Jermaine Johnson, Mullins McLeod and Billy Webster.

McLeod did not respond to our candidate guide.

Jermaine Johnson (D)

What is your occupation?

SC State Representative

Why are you running?

I’m running to bring new leadership to South Carolina and build a state that we can be proud of. I’m going to fix the roads, provide better access to health care, especially mental healthcare, and make life here more affordable.

What is the top priority for the state and how do you plan to address it?

The biggest challenges facing South Carolina are: our poor infrastructure, lack of access to health and mental health care, and rising cost of living. To address our poor infrastructure, I will make sure our public works are properly funded and to shift responsibility (and funding) to counties and municipalities that can act faster than the state. For healthcare, I plan on expanding Medicaid and funding rural hospitals, guaranteeing there is an OBGYN in every county, and making sure mental health is treated with the same urgency as physical health.

Would you say South Carolina is suffering from a crisis of affordability? If so, how do you plan to tackle it?

To address affordability, I plan on building affordable housing, reducing the burden of income tax, mandating a livable, minimum wage, and helping unions to secure better conditions for workers.

What is your position on abortion? Should South Carolina pursue additional abortion restrictions/penalties?

Women’s healthcare decisions should be between a woman and her doctor. I oppose the strict, harmful, and deeply unpopular legislation that seeks to control women and have submitted a bill instead to center women lawmakers’ voices on the matter.

What is your stance on legalizing gambling in South Carolina?

I will help bring legal, safe, regulated gambling to South Carolina. I will do so in a way that directly benefits the people who live here, will make a great effort to prevent unsafe gaming, and provide resources for those with gambling addictions.

What sets you apart from your opponents?

There are many people running for Governor of South Carolina. But among them, I am the only one who knows what it is like to be homeless, to be hungry, to be poor, to grow up around violence, to lose family members to guns. Those experiences have shaped me and I am running for governor to make sure that no one else has to grow up like that in our great state.

Jermaine Johnson talks South Carolina Governor bid with The Political Beat

Billy Webster (D)

What is your occupation?

Adjunct professor, Wofford College; businessman.

Why are you running?

South Carolina is the fastest-growing state in the country. We’ve added a million people in 15 years and will add another million in the next decade. Our roads, bridges, and water systems weren’t built for it. Half a million people still don’t have health insurance. Our natural resources are under threat from unmanaged development. I’ve built businesses from the ground up, helped create thousands of jobs and worked at the highest levels of government. I know how to get things done. South Carolina doesn’t need more empty promises. It needs a governor who will deliver.

What is the top priority for the state and how do you plan to address it?

My top priority is expanding Medicaid to cover South Carolina’s 500,000 uninsured residents, and I’ll propose doing so my first week in office.

The urgency is real. The federal government had been providing enhanced financial assistance that made health insurance far more affordable for people who buy their own coverage. Those enhancements have now expired, and for the average person who had marketplace coverage last year, premiums have more than doubled. South Carolinians — who already face some of the highest uninsured rates in the country — will feel that harder than most. Our uninsured crisis is about to get worse, not better, and expanding Medicaid is a critical part of the solution.

Would you say South Carolina is suffering from a crisis of affordability? If so, how do you plan to tackle it?

Yes. Utilities, groceries, prescription drugs, and health care premiums are all rising while powerful interests face no accountability. As governor, I’ll expand Medicaid to bring down health care costs, go after bad actors who deny coverage and jack up rates, and fight the price gouging that is squeezing South Carolinians at every turn. Being sick shouldn’t mean going broke.

What is your position on abortion? Should South Carolina pursue additional abortion restrictions/penalties?

No. Recent efforts in the legislature to ban abortion from conception and eliminate exceptions for rape, incest, and fetal anomaly threaten the health and futures of South Carolina women and families — including my own. Three of my four children carry the BRCA1 cancer gene, which gives my daughters between a 60 and 80 percent lifetime risk of breast or ovarian cancer. Without IVF, their children — my grandchildren — could inherit that same risk. Bills like these put that option at risk. These decisions belong to women, their doctors, and their families.

What is your stance on legalizing gambling in South Carolina?

Nearly half a million South Carolinians already place bets in neighboring states, and we are losing millions in tax revenue that could fund conservation, veterans’ programs, and other priorities. Like other major opportunities for our state, it’s worth a hard look, but outside interests or backroom deals shouldn’t drive it. Any expansion has to put South Carolinians first, with strong consumer protections and full transparency.

What sets you apart from your opponents?

I am the only candidate in this race with the experience, drive, and preparation to lead South Carolina on day one. I’m not a career politician. I’m a businessman who has spent his career working across party lines to get things done, and I’ll bring that same approach to the governor’s office.

I’ve started or helped start four successful businesses in four different industries, which have created thousands of jobs across our state. I worked at the highest levels of government for two presidents, one Democrat and one Republican. I served as Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of Education under Secretary Dick Riley, himself a two-term Democratic Governor of South Carolina. I know how to work across the aisle because I’ve spent my career doing it.