TALK 94.5 Liz And Nick
TALK 94.5 Liz And Nick
ALLEN WILSON STOPS BY TO TALK ABOUT THE RUNOFF TOMORROW 6/22/26
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Good morning, Liz.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for coming or calling in. I wanted to say, first of all, big news over the weekend, we've been watching closely. We heard that you got the endorsement from Senator Ted Cruz. We heard you got a co-endorsement from Trump. And I know endorsements mean some things to some people, but what is actually the things that you have seen and heard from people around the state that mean more to you as we come to the close of this campaign?
SPEAKER_02Well, Liz, first off, thank you again. You are right. You know, endorsements do not actually mean that people are going to win, but uh endorsements do reflect energy, they reflect momentum. Um but the most important endorsement to me is the endorsement that each voter makes when they walk into their uh ballot box and check my name uh tomorrow morning. I mean, that is what is most important to me. But like like you said, Friday, um I'm I'm so grateful that Senator Ted Cruz, who's actually going to be going on the stump with me today, came out and endorsed me. President Trump, you know, saw the energy and you know obviously reflected his views that we have been fighting and defending his agenda for the last dozen or so years and obviously saw the energy we had in our campaign. And of course, Senator Tim Scott uh came out within an hour of President Trump and uh got to worship with him yesterday on Father's Day at his church in Mount Pleasant, so I was grateful for that. Um over 80% of the sheriffs have come out for me. And again, while those are all wonderful and they're incredible and they make me feel good, it's the voters' endorsement that matters the most. And so we have a lot of energy, we have a lot of momentum, uh, we're feeling really good about things, but at the end of the day, it's about voter turnout, it's about the people of South Carolina showing up at the polls tomorrow and voting for your employees, the people you're electing to hold offices that belong to you. And I'm asking people to hire me to do the job of governor.
SPEAKER_01All right. Now we've spoken to you before. I played a couple of videos uh earlier, and so we we kind of understand what your platform is at this point. But I have to ask you a question, because I had a long conversation with our intern here, um, and uh his name is Sean, and he happens to be here. One of the things that we were talking about, and I don't want to put words in your mouth, Sean, but but um uh Glenn, could you turn up his mic? One of the things that we were talking about was we were talking about how young people feel about the economy and about the job opportunity here. So um, Sean, if you would like to ask uh Alan Wilson a question about your future, and and it's true that you were telling us that some of the kids uh your age at least are 25, uh just uh I think there's a lot of anxiety about uh not being able to find a good job opportunity.
SPEAKER_03Not even just for making a career, but I think a lot of people are worried about the fact that even a part-time job. Um I think a lot of people in my demographic are worried about also not being able to settle into careers either way. I would just like to hear what your thoughts on that are and if there's any plans you have to mitigate that.
SPEAKER_02Hey, Sean, thank you. First off, thank you for having the courage to step up and talk about this. I as I travel around the state, I'm talking to people all over. I'm talking to business owners um uh especially in the restaurant field. I'm talking to a lot of restauranteers who said that they want to franchise, but they can't, they can't expand their businesses because of the cost of doing the, you know, running the one restaurant they have. I talked to other small business owners, they're saying it's difficult to find um employment opportunities for people because of the regulatory processes and the permitting processes. And what I've learned not just by campaigning over the last year for governor, but what I've learned over my life is that government does not create wealth and prosperity in the private sector. Government can create the conditions for the private sector to produce wealth and prosperity. But at the end of the day, it's usually Yeah, absolutely. Think of us as the if you watch a football game, we're the referees, the guys and gals in the black and white striped jerseys, you know, trying to make the game played fairly and safely and predictably so that people understand what the rules are. But when the government actors or the referees indiscriminately apply rules and regulations based on preferred outcomes or preferred teams, then all of a sudden that hurts everyone on the field and it makes the game untenable. So my my view is that um as governor, um, I'm not gonna be able to create wealth and prosperity, but I can drive the reforms and the changes that will remove the impediments to wealth and prosperity for businesses being able to grow by lowering the income tax, reducing property taxes, you know, creating infrastructure opportunities in areas where there's not a lot of population so that opportunities will move and migrate there, um, expanding our educational systems for to allow high school students to get uh you know dual credits knocked out before they even go to college or possibly even get a certification, like a rate radiological tech or medical tech or a coder or a welder. I mean, there's so many vocational and technology jobs that you don't need a four-year degree to do, but if you had the certification right out the gate, you can make six-figure salaries and you could really change people's lives. So it's it's not just a specific plan, it's a philosophical approach to how I plan to govern. And that's how I view the role of government, Sean.
SPEAKER_01Um I wanted to ask you a question. You mentioned education. Uh we are not performing well on the national stage. What are you going to do as governor if elected uh with improving that? And and where do you see the issues? Where are we falling short? Why are we 43rd or in the bottom ten?
SPEAKER_02Well, first, you know, I I want to tell people that in when I grew up in the 1980s and 90s with my three brothers, all four of us were in public school. And by the way, I my wife and I, we live in an incredible school district with an incredible public schools with great teachers. Both my son just graduated high school, my daughter's a rising junior, and we are incredibly blessed. Uh but in when I was growing up, my three brothers thrived in public school. I was struggling. Um my parents had to sacrifice to send me to a small Christian school. Um I want to be able and and I ended up graduating and doing very well because they tailored my education to my educational needs. Well, if if kids growing up in the same house under this with the same parents have that unique individualized needs, then why do we try to do a one-size-fits-all education plan for kids all across the state growing up in very different ways? So I that is why I'm I'm supportive of giving the maximum options to the parents so they can give the maximum amount of opportunities to their kids. But at the same time, you can't abandon public education because there are kids out there who come from families where parents don't prioritize education or where there is no um alternative to public school. So there is a balanced approach to it. One of the things I would like to do is expand dual enrollment programs, which we have them in South Carolina, but they are not uniform, they are not universal. And dual enrollment programs allow um kids who have the inclination uh to have the opportunity to knock out up to half of college before they even graduate high school, or to get a certification or an associate's degree before they even turn 18 years of age. And so um I was talking to some technical college presidents and they told me that on average they're turning away between four to five thousand applications to technical college every year. So expanding access to technical colleges will be a major platform in my administration as well as maximizing opportunity to parents.
SPEAKER_01All right, I'm gonna do rapid fire here because I don't want to run out of time. Uh one of the questions during the debate was um positions on gambling and casinos in the state. Uh, where do you stand?
SPEAKER_02Um I yeah, brick and mortar, I have a I have a real serious concern with brick and mortar casinos. I've been transparent about that for people who support that. I wanted them to know where I stood. I do have a problem with them. Um I've talked to leadership in other states where they have them, and they have also voiced concerns. Um they said be careful when you bring them into your state because there's a lot of stuff that comes with it that you don't anticipate. So that is just something I'm concerned about.
SPEAKER_01What are some of the things that are negative about casinos being in a community that you heard about? You know, you're a law and order guy.
SPEAKER_02Yes, so this is not a reflection on the on the business people who are investing in them. I mean, there's a lot of good people who invest in them, and this is not to denigrate them, but um obviously we have seen upticks in human trafficking, we've seen upticks in organized crime, we've seen upticks in drug trafficking. I mean, be these are things that are correlated. Um I'm not saying they're costs, but they're correlated with that type of industry. You just you start to see a lot of it. O'Reilly County is already a top five county for reports of human trafficking because of the tourism industry um in you know coastal areas. And these are things that when you're going into something like this, I tell people measure twice, cut once. And that is something that we need to be careful about, and I'm gonna be very careful about proceeding on something like that.
SPEAKER_01All right. Um the other thing, so you're not dead set against it.
SPEAKER_02You are Well, I'm I'm I I am I am very concerned about brick and mortar casinos. Obviously, online's another thing that that that's distinguishable, but the brick and mortar is something I'm very concerned about.
SPEAKER_01All right. You mentioned uh crime. Do we have a gang problem in this state?
SPEAKER_02I mean, yes, we we do. We we do we have um not just local gangs, we have uh international gangs. Uh obviously, like Trend Aragua was not here a year and a half ago, but due to the Biden policies, the borders were open. We have cartel activity, we have you know uh gang activities from out MS-13, Trend Aragua, uh among others. Um these are issues that my office has dealt with. I know local law enforcement is dealing with it, and it is a concern.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. We have a a problem here um through certain communities for sure. We always talk about it with solicitor Jimmy Richardson, who's actually coming up, by the way. Um uh Sean has another question for you, our intern.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I was very curious. I know whenever uh Ron Reddy was on the show, we had gotten into talking about data centers.
SPEAKER_01Oh, he's dead set against that.
SPEAKER_03I'm very curious what your opinions on data centers are as well, and if they have a place in South Carolina.
SPEAKER_02So this is you have to frame your thinking about data centers. Think of data centers like this as an infrastructure for new technology. So data centers are to us, and data centers are to like innovative technologies like artificial intelligence, what roads and highways were to automobiles 120 years ago. The automobile was coming whether we wanted it to or not. The bad and the good came with the automobile. So the states and the federal government had to get in front of it and let the laws catch up with the technology. So obviously they are coming. They're gonna be in China, Russia, Europe, Asia, they're gonna be in states all over the world. It's a new infrastructure. You can't stop the technology from coming. However, the way I would approach data centers in South Carolina is as follows. First off, protect private property rights, protect the rights of local communities who don't want data centers to prevent data centers from coming to communities where you don't want them. For communities who do want data centers, you have to develop a regulatory and legal framework for them to come. First off, not all data centers are the same. Some are very small, some are 25 megawatts, some are 250 or 500 megawatts. What I would require is, depending on the size of the data center, there would be a, you know, obviously regulations that would protect local communities that want them from the noise, light, uh, and environmental pollution, and we would require the larger data centers that take energy off the grid from our ratepayers, we would require them to produce their own energy and what energy they don't use, they would give it back. We'd incentivize the tax credits, they would give that energy back to local populations, thus lowering your utility rates. But there's a way to have data centers for communities that want them that doesn't um pr produce environmental impacts or uh energy impacts on those local communities. You've got to be thoughtful about it, and we can do it.
SPEAKER_01We're speaking with Attorney General Alan Wilson. He's in the runoff against uh the Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evitt. Tomorrow is election day. I have a question. I played a clip of you earlier talking about coalition. Um one of the things you said was that Congressman Ralph Norman's group uh is something that you would like to bring into the fold and other groups as well. What are you talking about when you talk about coalition and what is this group you speak of?
SPEAKER_02Well, I that's not my group, that's Congressman Norman's group, and he is free to obviously support the groups that advocate for his views and vision for the state of South Carolina. What I have committed to Congressman Norman, what I have committed to other candidates and other people in South Carolina is that I am always going to advocate for the broadest coalition we can build that produces and promotes the most conservative pro-Trump policies we can here in South Carolina. Um and sometimes that means when you build coalitions, you know, you have to do everything you can to bring people together who may not agree on 100% of the issues, but if you can build a coalition of people who agree with 80 to 90 percent of issues, you do that. My goal at the end of the day, Liz, is to build coalitions that produce the most conservative results to pass the most um laws that do the most good for the most people that you can. And that's what I'm gonna do as governor.
SPEAKER_01Now, what are you going to do as day one? What are you going what are you setting your sights on? And I know people talk about this day one thing. We know it takes more than a day, but what are some of the things that are like top priority, top three or things that you are going to be hyper focused on as governor?
SPEAKER_02Well, Liz, there is a day one, and it's not in January, it's the day after the election in November, and that's when you assemble your transition team, which sets the the tone and the mood for your administration, identifying the right personnel to run the right agencies, coming up with your legislative agenda, meeting with the leadership of the legislature, coming up with a roadmap for reform in South Carolina. Some of the things that I'm going to start building the day after the election and will be executing after I get sworn into office in January is basically a roadmap for eliminating the income tax, uh reducing property taxes, uh making affordability a reality for South Carolina. We also want to modernize and update government. Government is woefully inadequate, inefficient, outmoded, and outdated when it comes to technology. And I want to do everything I can to doge fraud, waste, and abuse out of government and make it more accountable to the people. So those roadmaps are what I'm going to be executing when I take the when I take office in January.
SPEAKER_01Now I wanted to remind everyone that if you did not vote at all on June 9th, you are allowed to vote in this election. Um and if you voted Republican before, you can ask for that Republican ballot again to vote in this election, which is happening tomorrow, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Uh now uh Attorney General Alan Wilson, I would like to give you the time to ask for the vote because there are some people who haven't voted at all or will vote again and can change their mind um with for whom they want to vote for. Or if they voted for someone else in the past and their candidate didn't uh get into the runoff, uh maybe they're on the fence about who to vote for.
SPEAKER_02Well, thank you, Liz. First off, if you were a Josh Kimbrell or a Nancy Mays or a Ralph Norman or a Rom Reddy supporter, I I appreciate and understand that. What uh what I want you to understand is there is a home for you here in the Wilson campaign and the Wilson administration. We want to have as broad a coalition as we can, and I am grateful to have received the endorsements of of almost all of the former candidates for governor in this race. Um what I this is my commitment to the voters that are listening to me right now. Um I I don't promise you I'm gonna be perfect, and I don't promise you I won't make mistakes, or that I'll that you will agree with me 100% of the time. For anyone who's married, you can't even make that commitment to your spouse. What I do commit to you is this I will always uh be accessible to you, while I will always be accountable to you, and I will always fight for you, and I will be open to my mind being changed if you have a better idea. I'm asking everyone to get out tomorrow and vote. The office of governor is your office, it does not belong to me, but I'm asking you to hire me and give me a chance to go fight for you next year. Thank you for this opportunity, Liz, and I want to thank everyone listening for your consideration.
SPEAKER_01Thank you, and good luck tomorrow.