2014 SC Senate debate: on Civil Rights

Tim Scott: Government shouldn't redefine marriage

Scott: Agree

Brad Hutto: Equal pay for equal work is the next women's milestone

Right now in this country, women earn roughly 20% less than men doing the same job. You and I know this is wrong, plain and simple. But Lindsey Graham seems to think it's just fine. Just this Spring, Graham voted against considering the Paycheck Fairness Act--a law that would have safeguard against wage discrimination based on gender. I'll make equal work for equal pay a priority. As your next Senator, I'll not simply vote for but I will sponsor equal pay for equal work legislation.

Thomas Ravenel: Stay out of marriage, but if not, treat gays equally

Lee Bright: Government shouldn't redefine marriage

Bright: Strongly Agree

Thomas Ravenel: Government should stay out of our bedrooms &our boardrooms

Ravenel, with a chiseled jaw and slicked-back hair straight out of central casting for a Southern politician, has good reason to hope that voters aren't overly concerned with what goes on in peoples' bedrooms.

Rick Wade: First all-black U.S. Senate race in recent memory

Wade filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) this week--and if he and Scott earn their respective party's nominations (as they are expected to do) it would set up the first all-black U.S. Senate race in recent memory. Maybe ever.

"A Scott-Wade matchup would allow South Carolina to see a campaign unlike any it--and few if any other states--has ever seen: a bona fide race for U.S. Senate between two African-American candidates," a liberal columnist wrote earlier this year.

Richland County councilwoman Joyce Dickerson--another black Democrat--has said she's running against Scott in 2014, but she's not viewed as a credible candidate.

We expect Wade--who helped lead Obama's 2008 minority turnout effort--to help mobilize black voters in a big way in 2014.

Jay Stamper: Asked by Party to exit race after supporting gay marriage

Several days after my announcement, a state party official summoned me to his office. To my disbelief he tried to persuade me to drop out of the race. I said no thanks.

Apparently, certain well-connected "party elders" believe that my candidacy is a distraction that will only hurt Democratic gubernatorial candidate Vincent Sheheen by highlighting his opposition to marriage equality and women's reproductive rights.

Now, my campaign is meeting resistance from the last place I expected: from within the state party establishment. I'm proud to be a Democrat. But the party is more than just a handful of well-connected insiders sitting in an office building. It's you, it's me, it's millions of "ordinary" people across the country who believe in equal rights and equal opportunity for all. I'm not going to back down.