Cunningham slams McMaster’s role in ‘disastrous’ deal over failed Rock Hill-Panthers site
South Carolina’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate Joe Cunningham took aim at Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper and Governor Henry McMaster over the team’s failed Rock Hill headquarters site during a campaign event Sunday.
Cunningham, who represented the state’s 1st Congressional District for one term, and his running mate Tally Casey, took off on a tour across South Carolina last week and met with Rock Hill voters late in the day at Dust Off Brewing Co. as one of their last stops before Tuesday’s election.
During his Rock Hill event, Cunningham slammed McMaster’s economic platform and criticized his role in attempting to bring the NFL team’s 240-acre property to York County. To lure the Panthers to South Carolina, lawmakers passed legislation that promised $115 million in tax breaks to the team, which planned to bring 150 employees to Rock Hill from Charlotte.
Those incentives would have only be awarded to the team if the project was completed by the end of 2024 and the jobs came. The state also started work on a $40 million Interstate 77 interchange project meant to serve the practice facility.
“You all have had a front row seat to the ways in which it has been a total and complete failure in using corporate handouts to a billionaire, like David Tepper, who has taken our tax dollars and turned his back,” Cunningham said. “McMaster has done nothing to call back those tax dollars that were p---ed away on an interchange that could’ve been somewhere else in York County or somewhere else in South Carolina that deserves it more.”
The dozens of supporters at his event cheered and clapped.
Cunningham insisted that McMaster, who is seeking his second full term in office, sue Tepper to get South Carolinians’ “hard-earned money back.”
“I don’t need to go into detail about how disastrous of a deal that was, but I really can’t help myself,” he continued. “We all found out that those job numbers and the tax dollars that we could expect here were all bogus. They were all a sham and they were all a lie because he was doing a favor for his billionaire campaign donor. Y’all deserve a hell of a lot better than that, folks.”
The crowd cheered.
‘A new South Carolina’
Cunningham also criticized his opponent’s strong anti-abortion stance. McMaster has said South Carolina should ban all abortions without any exceptions in the law.
“I cannot think of a more egregious government overreach than career politicians coming into a woman’s doctor’s office,” he said. “First of all, if the government can cross the threshold into a woman’s doctor’s office, I’d ask you, ‘Where could it not go?’”
Several in the crowd shouted: “Right!”
Cunningham touted his bipartisan success in Congress. In 2021, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce awarded him with the Jefferson-Hamilton Award for Bipartisanship. And he promised to accomplish the same bipartisan success as governor.
Last week, Cunningham said if elected, he’d offer half of all cabinet positions to Republicans.
Cunningham went on to push his plan to eliminate the state income tax and up teacher pay. And in order to do so, he said South Carolina needs to implement more progressive strategies, such as legalizing marijuana and sports betting.
“We are fighting for a new South Carolina,” he said. “I am sick and tired of these career politicians. I believe if you serve for 30, 40 or 50 years, you’ve got to go. And listen, it would be different if Henry McMaster was knocking it out of the park here in South Carolina.”
The crowd laughed.
‘We can do this’
Casey also slammed her opponent Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, who said last week during a campaign event in Rock Hill that a red wave would come over that state and the country on Election Day.
Casey said that’s not likely.
“I was thinking to myself, ‘What about the rest of us? Does she want us to just drown?’” she said. “Well, Joe and I want to be leaders not just for some South Carolinians, but for all South Carolinians. We’re going to build a boat and we’re going to take everybody with us and we’re going to ride that wave to victory.”
The crowd cheered.
Nearly 440,000 South Carolinians — out of the state’s 3.3 million registered voters — have already voted in the 2022 general election. Cunningham encouraged those who haven’t yet cast a ballot to make it to the polls on Tuesday.
“We can do this,” he told the crowd. “We can win this race on Tuesday. ... When you wake up (on Wednesday), you’re going wake up to a new generation of leadership. You’re going to wake up to a governor and lieutenant governor that are a reflection of you and your values.”
This story was originally published November 7, 2022 at 10:08 AM.
