‘McMaster Has Been Leading South Carolina into the 1950s Since the 1980s’: Democrat Roasts GOP Gov. in Debate

Democratic gubernatorial candidate and former Rep. Joe Cunningham took several shots at South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster during Wednesday night’s debate. At one point, Cunningham accused the Republican of leading the state back to the 1950s.

A moderator queried McMaster about the possibility of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Obergefell v. Hodges and the constitutional right for same-sex couples to marry. He asked the governor if he would support a measure rescinding the state’s ban on same-sex marriages (which is currently superseded by the court’s decision in Obergefell).

“I would follow whatever the state law is,” McMaster, 75, replied. “Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I think a marriage ought to be between a man and woman.”

Cunningham, 40, went full bore at the governor:

Wow. For those of you who are just tuning in, it’s 2022 and Gov. McMaster wants to ban same-sex marriage. You just heard that tonight, folks. We have politicians that have been in government so long become so calcified in their beliefs. And Gov. McMaster has been a politician literally longer than I’ve been alive. And he’s been taking our state backwards the entire time. Gov. McMaster has been leading South Carolina into the 1950s since the 1980s.

He added, “I don’t care who you are or who you love. I don’t think it’s government’s role to be getting in the middle of that.”

McMaster was allowed a rebuttal.

“I don’t care who you love or you don’t love, or who you want to live with or what you wanna do,” he said. “That is your business. But I think marriage is a special institution and that designation ought to be reserved for a man and a woman.”

Watch above via C-SPAN.