Local Democratic, Republican leaders speak out on issues ahead of presidential debate
COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — Local Democratic and Republican leaders are speaking out ahead of Thursday night’s presidential debate.
During an online press conference, SC Democratic Party Chair Christale Spain stressed that sending President Biden back to the White house is crucial to carrying out the party’s initiatives.
“And it’s critical that we elect Democrats to our state offices so these initiatives can be carried out and not blocked,” says Spain.
Specifically initiatives including abortion rights. Francie Kleckley is a candidate for SC Senate District 10.
“The extreme right has too much influence where self interest and political gain is valued over representation for all,” says Kleckley.
Dr. Octavia Amaechi, running to represent SC Senate District 12, addressed the state’s current six-week abortion ban.
“A timeframe where most women do not even recognize they’re pregnant. South Carolinians freedoms are now severely restricted. This puts our families and loved ones in an extremely dangerous environment, where my fellow clinicians are literally scared to act in emergency situations,” Amaechi says.
Angela Geter SC Senate Candidate for District 11 says strict abortion bans has an effect on SC’s economy, by discouraging women to move to the state — specifically potential teachers.
“More than 70% of our teachers are women. We can’t afford to lose one teacher when we are ranked 42 out of 50!” she says.
“The SCGOP’s pro-life stance is not a complicated one. We believe that innocent life should be protected. Democrats on the other hand believe in unrestricted abortion rights up until the moment of birth. If they want to campaign on that position, we’re happy to let them do it all the way to Election Day,” says SCGOP Chairman Drew McKissick.
Senator Tameika Isaac Devine believes extreme GOP voices continue to be magnified in the state and across the nation.
“Quite honestly because of the Republican nominee for president, it has given them carte blanche to be hateful, to be negative, to continue to take away our rights and put democracy on the ballot,” she says.
McKissick also addressed the debate, saying, “Tonight, the CNN moderators are sure to spend most of the debate covering for Joe Biden and not focusing on America’s present problems, much less how to fix them in the future. Unfortunately for them, 90 minutes is a long time to try and avoid the obvious. We’re in the longest period of high inflation since the 1980’s, women’s sports are under attack, Anti-Semitism is at an all-time high and millions more illegal immigrants are on the loose in our country. We know that Joe Biden isn’t used to answering those tough questions by himself, but we hope that President Trump’s mic isn’t turned off when he answers them.”
The presidential debate can be viewed on ABC Thursday night at 9 p.m.
