In a televised matchup Tuesday Democratic state Rep. Jermaine Johnson and Republican Attorney General Alan Wilson both argued for a new direction for the state.

Wilson said he’s ready to “lead a new generation to up end the status quo,” while Johnson argued it’s time for a “new South Carolina.”

In a debate that got a little chippy, Johnson and Wilson faced off in their only scheduled televised debate ahead of the Nov. 3 election where voters will pick who will succeed Gov. Henry McMaster, the state’s longest serving governor. It is the first time in 16 years the governor’s race did not have an incumbent in the election.

They squared off inside the WIS TV Studios in Columbia in a debate aired by Gray Media.

Wilson, the Republican nominee, is the favorite in the election in the reliably red state. A poll released Monday had Wilson leading by 10 points, 45% to 35%. According to the poll, 15% of voters are undecided.

Here are 5 takeaways from the debate:

Whether to eliminate the income tax

The candidates answered a question on eliminating the state income tax as the current governor earlier this year signed a bill which phases in reductions of the state income tax if revenues are high enough. The law aims to put the state on a path to eliminating income tax all together.

“I’ve always advocated that South Carolina should go in a 0% income tax for everybody. We’re not going to pick winners and losers,” Wilson said.

Wilson also reiterated his stance that he would want to cap growth in government spending by inflation indexed by population growth.

Johnson, who voted against the income tax bill earlier this year because it actually raised taxes on some filers because of a switch to using adjusted gross income as a starting point as opposed to a federal taxable income. Under the bill that was signed, 624,000 filers will see an increase in income taxes.

“They raised taxes on the poorest working class people of South Carolina,” Johnson said. “My plan as your next governor is to immediately repeal that bill that they passed here to work with the general assembly to repeal that, go back to the 40% of South Carolinians not paying income tax and expand that from 40% up to 70%.”

They took jabs at each other, got chippy

Johnson and Wilson each took their swipes at each other, which led to moderator Judi Gatson to award extra time for rebuttals.

Wilson often said Johnson made mischaracterizations of actions taken by the attorney general’s office and criticized Johnson for missed votes.

“I wish you had voted for the homicide by fentanyl bill that the House passed last year that we advocated for,” Wilson said.

Johnson said Wilson didn’t understand how the General Assembly worked, saying a person could be charged with homicide for providing a large bag of marijuana with only tiny drop of fentanyl in it.

“If my opponent was part of the General Assembly he would have understood that,” Johnson said.

In the following question about mental health, Wilson returned to the fentanyl response to defend his role work as attorney general.

“I know more about fighting fentanyl addiction and going after criminals who sell fentanyl than you will ever learn,” Wilson said. “This is what I base my life on.”

Johnson returned the jab.

“Well, you know, for the past 16 years, I have not been the aspiring governor. I’ve been actually on the ground, actually working for the people of South Carolina,” Johnson said.

But the debate wasn’t as nasty as some of the debates during the primary elections.

At the end of the debate they thanked each other for participating in the debate and shook each other's hands on camera.

Johnson and Wilson had questions

The two leading candidates for governor had an opportunity to ask each other a question in the middle of the debate.

Johnson tried to hit Wilson on a $75 million fee his office awarded to his former law firm from the $600 million Savannah River Site settlement.

“It’s funny. I love it that you went to the old dusty playbook of failed mischaracterizations, Jermaine,” Wilson said.

Wilson said law firms can file lawsuits on behalf the state, “and only get paid if they recover. We don’t pick the firms; they pick us. We just let them go out and find it,” Wilson said.

Johnson also asked if the family of Scott Spivey, who was killed in a road rage incident in Horry County, actually received justice. Wilson said the Spivey case is now being investigated by an Upstate solicitor.

“At the end of the day, in the Attorney General’s office, we follow legal, ethical, transparent processes,” Wilson said.

Wilson then asked Johnson, who has been in the state House for six years why none of the 70 pieces of legislation he has introduced have become law and why he had missed 700 votes.

Johnson responded by repeating his message that South Carolina has been under one-party rule for 24 years and the GOP has a legislative supermajority, and holds every statewide office.

“Yet they get their marching orders from Donald Trump, Fox News and CNN,” Johnson said. “So they’re not going to allow any Democrats to get anything done because they don’t want it to be a win. But make no mistake about it, I have worked on plenty of legislation. I have gotten plenty of bills because when you’re a Democrat, it is not about getting bills passed, it is about working with everybody and being the co-sponsor on plenty of pieces of legislation that have become law in South Carolina.”

Rapid fire hand raising

Before closing statements, Gatson asked the candidates to raise their hands to respond to three questions.

Both candidates said they would leave current abortion exceptions in place. South Carolina bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, usually around the six-week mark of a pregnancy, with exceptions for rape, incest and to protect the health of the mother.

In the final two questions, Johnson said he would support a casino if voters approved a statewide referendum and Wilson would be against a casino, even if voters approved a referendum.

The debate sponsored by Alan Wilson?

Wilson paid to get additional speaking time during the hour-long debate.

The attorney general bought 30-seconds of airtime on Gray Media’s South Carolina stations during the debate. According to FCC files, Wilson paid at least $10,500 for the ad.

It was part of a six-figure ad buy running statewide on television and digital. The ad launched on Tuesday.

Wilson’s ad in the Columbia market on WIS TV aired right after the opening statements.

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