MORNING HEADLINES | South Carolina’s three Democratic gubernatorial candidates faced off Thursday night in a statewide debate with lots of talk of affordability and a few jabs at each other.
“I had a very smart Republican business partner who said to me, you can’t cut your way to prosperity,” said Greenville businessman Billy Webster. “We cannot eliminate the state income tax and even have a state that is recognizable in 10 years.”
The two other candidates, S.C. Rep. Jermaine Johnson of Richland County and Charleston lawyer Mullins McLeod, said they would push for a minimum wage for South Carolina.
Meanwhile, Upstate Republican state Sen. Josh Kimbrell suspended his gubernatorial campaign Wednesday, leaving five candidates in the primary battle. Other candidates, such as S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson in Florence, are vigorously campaigning.
The statewide GOP and Democratic primaries are Tuesday with contested statewide, congressional and S.C. House offices on ballots. But the polls will likely be less crowded than usual as a record-number of voters have already cast ballots in early voting that started May 26. According to state election records, almost 207,000 people voted as of Tuesday night.
In recent headlines
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Around town
CP EXCLUSIVE: Outpouring of world’s brief expressed in letters, art for Emanuel AME. Two separate huge collections of correspondence and artwork capture the world’s grief-stricken responses to the 2015 tragedy that took the lives of nine members of Emanuel AME Church.
CP FESTIVALS: Piccolo show confronts Charleston’s roots in rice plantations. Artist Michelle Kaye Washington’s latest exhibition, “Against the Grain,” confronts the human cost of the rice plantation economy in the Lowcountry. The exhibition debuted at Drummond Studio Gallery on May 22 for the Piccolo Spoleto 2026 festival.
- Lowcountry Conjurors bring magic to Piccolo
- Piccolo Spoleto Today
- Events that will close out Piccolo Spoleto
1st case of measles seen in Lowcountry in Hampton County. Officials say more people might have been exposed. Earlier this year, South Carolina’s Upstate had a huge outbreak that sickened almost 1,000 people.
Charleston’s $200 million flood defense system nearly done. A look at the $200 million underground flood defense system in the making for more than a decade.
AROUND CHARLESTON: Corps of Engineers studying new dredging plan for Charleston harbor. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is starting the process for an Environmental Impact Statement to consider a change of dredging in the harbor.
- Charleston zoning board says OK to removing 22 historic oaks
- Board OKs rezoning at old Fuel restaurant to fit 6 homes
- North Charleston is updating its zoning code
- Edisto Beach to cut ribbon on new town facility
- Charleston fire union president terminated May 29 by city
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