Democratic candidates seeking to unseat Rep. Mark Sanford answer questions at forum

Democratic candidates Toby Smith and Joe Cunningham are convinced that they can dethrone incumbent U.S. House Rep. Mark Sanford in South Carolina’s District 1 Congressional Race, and they made it known at a forum held at a cushy Daniel Island Marina suite on Monday, May 21.

“I want to repeal and replace Mark Sanford,” said Cunningham in his opening statement. Three of the two dozen attendees immediately clapped.

“I’m going to win,” Smith said with a smile after the forum. “I believe I have a message that speaks to where people are.”

Both candidates used variations of these comments as their diving board when they jumped into the forum.

In her opening statement, Smith discussed her personal attachment to issues, specifically how they affect the several generations of her family, saying “I’m not theorizing about them, I’m witnessing them.”

Cunningham’s approach was to show his deep commitment to bipartisanship, alongside punching up at Sanford. His statement consisted of a flurry of sentences beginning with the phrase “We’re Democrats because…” He also told the audience about his desire to explore renewable energies and fight for climate change, before voicing his discontent with the current state of affairs in Washington.

“Politicians in D.C. keep doing nothing,” he exclaimed.

Daniel Island resident Laurie Steinke organized the forum and her husband, Louis, hosted it. He posed questions to the candidates under the categories of jobs, healthcare, education, gun safety, and the environment. The questions asked were submitted beforehand by forum attendees.

The first question was about education and how to better the schools. Smith’s response echoed a communitarian view, claiming that the best option was to get people, and parents, in a school’s surrounding area more involved in the education system. Cunningham stated the key to making schools better environments is to retain teachers at an institution for longer periods of time.

Later, the two were asked if South Carolina’s minimum wage rate, which sits at $7.25 an hour, should be increased to $15 an hour. Smith agrees with the hike. According to a spokesman for the Cunningham campaign, the candidate “does support a raise in the minimum wage, but he does not support raising it to $15 an hour.”

After the host finished the first round of questioning, he opened the floor up to the public.

The first attendee tackled a popular quagmire when she asked what the candidates believed would be the best way to get money out of politics.

Cunningham went on the offensive. “We need elections in this country, but instead, we’re having auctions,” he claimed. Cunningham touted that his campaign has refused to take money from special interest groups or PACs. Smith offered a different interpretation.

“Not all PACs are bad,” she said. “There’s nothing wrong with the Sierra Club, there’s nothing wrong with the Nursing Association, there are some that are doing a great deal of good. But the challenge is when you have a House that is like-minded, then the money all comes. I hope that if we can flip the House, we can go back to the issues of people, and less focused on the issues of money.”

Smith continued her comments and proved her voice is unique to this campaign.

“What we have found is that politics has become a game for wealthy white folks. Can I just be very candid? This is why we see a stunning lack of diversity. This is why we don’t have conversations— because people can’t afford to play the game.”

One member of the audience asked the candidates how they would work with or against the Trump administration to protect the environment.

“When you put people in charge of the environment, who don’t believe in climate change, I think it’s a recipe for disaster,” said Cunningham. “This congressional district, out of any in the United States, should be the most concerned. When you look around this district from McClellanville all the way down to Hilton Head, we are blessed with so much beauty and nature.”

“When this administration starts putting in people whose ideals run counter to ours, here in the First Congressional District, I think it’s time we stand up and fight,” Cunningham added.

Smith broadened the scope a little more in her response.

“Rolling back regulations impacts all of us,” she said. “And I’m particularly concerned about communities where minorities are underserved, where pollution sites are placed. All of that now is going to get rolled back, and there’s going to be less regulation, which affects not only my 9 and 5 year old, but also those of us that are getting older.”

While Smith threw some jabs at the Trump administration, she did say that she hopes to work with Republicans, as well as Democrats.

“We’ve got to, when we get there [Congress], reach across the aisle and find people who share our views. And I’m slightly encouraged that there are some centrist Republicans who do share those views,” she added. “They’re ducking most of these days, but we’ve got to find them. We’ve got to reach arm-in-arm and work together.”

The last question of the evening asked whether or not Trump should be impeached. Both candidates spoke about evidence and investigations, but did not give a clear “yes” or “no.”

The two potential members of Congress have both spent considerable portions of their campaigns portraying themselves as outsiders, but have enough differences to make them distinguishable. Smith, a self-described moderate, used her perspective to speak just as much about the black community and lower income communities as she did the rest of District 1. Cunningham, a construction lawyer without a deep political resume, stuck to the lines that divide Republicans and Democrats, and planted himself firmly on the blue side.