Issues We Face

Republican legislators in Columbia have chosen to ignore the majority view in this state that government should not be controlling women's reproductive health. We do not want a law that criminalizes all access to abortion except in cases of rape, incest, and to save the life of the mother.

This does not reflect the will of the people.

We need sensible legislation that puts women's reproductive health in the hands of a woman and her doctor. This is a basic privacy right that Republicans have taken away. We don't need lawyers and legislators making decisions best left to women and their doctors.

I will vote to return control over reproductive health to women. This is where it belongs and where it has been for the last fifty years.

It has never been true that the Second Amendment right to bear arms is without limitation. No civil liberty is without limitation.

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The reforms in gun ownership I propose are rooted in common sense and supported by most Americans. The State Legislature should take them up immediately.

We should require that a purchaser of a firearm be at least 21 years old. That person should pass a rigorous background check before the sale is completed. Persons who have used a firearm to intimidate their fellow citizens should forfeit their right to bear arms. Assault-style weapons should not be widely available to the general public.

Either we want to stop the slaughter of innocent people or we don't. Democrats are willing to address the serious public health issues caused by the easy access to firearms. Republicans have proven they are content with the status quo, offering only "thoughts and prayers" for victims and their families.

Driving south on I-95 from North Carolina into South Carolina demonstrates how neglected our roads and bridges are. They are regularly ranked near the bottom by engineers who have studied the national picture.
Now that funds from the infrastructure bill (proposed by President Biden and passed largely by Democrats) are coming into South Carolina, some relief is in sight. Naturally, Republicans want to take credit for this, even though most of
them opposed infrastructure legislation in Washington.
Make no mistake: Republicans are to blame for the scandalous condition of our roads, as well as for traffic congestion in metro areas. For years they resisted raising the gas tax to pay for improving roads and bridges. The State Department of Transportation has not been aggressive in confronting Republican legislators and demanding an accelerated program of repair and renewal. We still have no good plan for easing traffic congestion in the Charleston metro area.
In Columbia I will make it a priority to address our traffic problems in a serious and sustained manner. We need a plan, and we need the money to fund the plan.

South Carolina public schools are consistently ranked among the poorest in the United States. We cannot build a healthy economy or society if our schools are graduating students unprepared to face the challenges of 2030 and beyond. Republicans, sadly, do not embrace the concept of public education. They attack it. They demean its quality and undervalue public school teachers. They offer as a "solution" taking your tax dollars away from public schools and giving them to private schools, charter schools, religious schools and online educators. We even have a Republican candidate for Superintendent of Schools who wants to "defund" public schools. That is stunning.
Starving our public schools is destructive for our state and for the next generation of citizens. If parents want to send their children to alternative schools, that is their choice, if they pay for it themselves.

I will embrace the goal of a quality public education for all. I will support the right of teachers to teach, with minimum interference from politicians. And I will work to improve the economic well-being of our teachers and the conditions in which they teach.

South Carolina is home to thousands of veterans and their families. Veterans are an integral part of our community. Our government made promises to these veterans that we would provide benefits for life in exchange for their service.
Republicans have played politics with the lives of veterans, such as their recent misguided vote in Washington to hold up "burn pit" legislation to assist veterans who came into contact with toxic chemicals in their service abroad. I will work to make sure that veterans hospitals are fully staffed and functioning
efficiently.
I will support expanded mental health and reintegration services so that veterans do not feel excluded from the society they protected. I will address the alarming suicide rate among veterans.

I will work to bring down the cost of housing in the Charleston area so that both active duty and retired veterans can live in our increasingly expensive
community. No veteran should be homeless in our community.
I am married to a disabled veteran, so I know first-hand the challenges they all
face.

South Carolina Republicans remain locked into the Reagan policy of "trickle down" economics. They are great at offering tax incentives to corporations to locate here (such as the misguided, failed effort by Republicans to build a home for the Carolina Panthers in Rock Hill). Senator Tim Scott's "Opportunity Zone" scam is nothing more than a program for the rich to shield capital gains from taxes. That is the Republican version of economic development.

In Columbia I will prioritize programs that provide incentives to invest in areas that have not seen investment in decades, if ever. I will work to raise the minimum wage from one of the lowest in the nation to one on which people can live and support a family. I will support technical colleges that provide job training that results in meaningful, long-term employment.
The rich receive plenty of tax breaks and economic incentives. My focus will be on the rest of us.