“He’s one of the most impressive people I’ve ever met,” said Cunningham, who previewed his choice for lieutenant governor for The Associated Press before an official announcement Monday. “She fought for our freedoms overseas and she wants to continue to fight for those freedoms, so I put her on the ticket and she agreed to do it.” Cunningham, 40, planned to introduce Casey, 52, at an event in her hometown of Greenville. “I have long admired Jo’s bipartisan approach to governing and believe she is exactly what South Carolina needs as governor,” Casey said in a statement provided by the campaign, calling her selection “an incredible honor and privilege.” “Joe is an ordinary guy who has the guts to say what we’re all thinking,” he also said in the statement. This is the second gubernatorial election cycle in which candidates for South Carolina’s top two executive offices are running on the same ticket. In previous years, governors and their lieutenant governors were elected separately, meaning politicians sometimes clashed ideologically or were from different parties. Last week, Gov. Henry McMaster and Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, 54, became South Carolina’s first gubernatorial ticket to run for re-election, with McMaster calling the payroll company founder “thoroughly familiar with the trials, tribulations and business challenges”. That skill, the governor said, complements his decades in law and politics. Since her election in 2018, Evette has spent many months traveling the state, meeting with businesses and fostering relationships with South Carolina’s technical training schools. Both she and the governor say keeping them strong is key to the state’s manufacturing economy. Cunningham also points to his candidate’s diverse experiences. Casey’s military service, legal knowledge and the fact that she is a woman make her a good fit for where she would like to take the state, he said. “Tali is the best person for the job, period,” Cunningham told the AP. “And the fact that she’s a woman brings that perspective to the ticket, especially in light of everything that’s happened with Governor McMaster’s attack on our freedoms and his attack on women’s rights. It makes it that much more personal for Tally.” The Republican-dominated legislature is on track to make abortions even more difficult in South Carolina after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the nearly 50-year-old Roe v. Wade decision that affirmed the constitutional right to the procedure. While abortion rights groups challenge the state’s current law, which bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy but includes some exceptions, a special legislative committee tabled a proposal last week to ban nearly all abortions unless the the mother’s life is at risk. McMaster, who said he would work “immediately” with those lawmakers, said last week that the six-week ban includes “good exceptions” and is “fairly reasonable.” “If there are other steps, if there are other things that they think should be done after careful consideration, then I’d like to hear it,” McMaster said. Cunningham asked lawmakers to hold off on debating the measure this fall until after the November election. Casey was South Carolina’s first female fighter pilot, enlisting in the state’s Air National Guard’s 157th Fighter Squadron in 1996 and attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel. He has nearly 1,500 hours in the F-16, more than 100 of them in combat, and has received numerous service-related awards. Casey has also been an attorney for more than two decades, most notably at Wyche PA in Columbia, where she was elected president in 2017 and focuses on commercial litigation, product liability, insurance and aerospace law. The graduate of Princeton University and the University of Virginia School of Law has also been a federal law clerk. Like Cunningham, Casey is significantly younger than McMaster, who at 75 is the state’s oldest governor and whose age the Democrat said is too advanced to adequately represent South Carolinians. “He’s been in politics literally longer than I’ve been alive, and look where that’s gotten us,” Cunningham said. “What Tally offers is the change that is needed and will be a refreshing approach to politics.” Cunningham proposed a 72-year age limit for South Carolina officials — a change that would require voters to approve a constitutional change. He has said he is open to a similar federal age limit, which would apply to 82-year-old House Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina and 79-year-old President Joe Biden.
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