![\"Questions](\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/218\/2022\/08\/20161025_PS_SC_Congress_Conversation-2231.jpg\")
Questions were submitted by political science majors and the general public prior to the event.<\/p><\/div>\n
The four South Carolina Congressional candidates shared their platforms and points of view during \u201cA Conversation with South Carolina Congressional Candidates: An Experiment in Civility and Substance\u201d Monday, Oct. 24, in the Watkins Room of the Trone Student Center.<\/p>\n
The event featured Rep. Trey Gowdy (R) and Democratic challenger Chris Fedalei in the 4th Congressional District race, along with Sen. Tim Scott (R) and Democratic candidate Thomas Dixon in the U.S. Senate race. Furman Professor of Political Science Danielle Vinson moderated the discussion, attended by a full house of more than 300 students, faculty, staff, OLLI members, and Greenville residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cCivility and substance has been in short supply in this campaign,\u201d said Vinson. \u201cWe wanted the candidates to come together and show that it\u2019s possible to have a civil, substantive conversation about important political issues even when we disagree with one another.\u201d<\/p>\n
The conversation was held in three parts, two sessions with candidates from each race, followed by a final session with questions for all candidates. Questions were submitted in advance by everyone from Furman political science majors to ladies who approached Vinson at the grocery store.<\/p>\n
Gowdy and Fedalei tackled topics including international trade, institutional racism in the criminal justice system, long-term health of the Social Security system, immigration policies, and the most requested issue from citizens, campaign finance reform.<\/p>\n
Education funding, gun violence and the handling of the President\u2019s Supreme Court nomination of Judge Merrick Garland by the Senate were key issues addressed at length by Scott and Dixon. Trading a few jabs along the way, all four candidates shared their perspective of their roles in representing their constituencies.<\/p>\n
![\"Rep.](\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/218\/2022\/08\/20161025_PS_SC_Congress_Conversation-336.jpg\")
Rep. Trey Gowdy and Democratic candidate Thomas Dixon<\/p><\/div>\n
Though he won\u2019t be voting in the South Carolina election, Brett Sullivan \u201918 of Middleton, N.J., was eager to hear the candidates\u2019 views.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was such a great opportunity to hear from all the candidates right here on campus,\u201d said Sullivan, a double major in political science and economics. \u201cIt was so interesting, not like the presidential debates, and it was a lot more civil.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Rachel Cooke \u201919, the debate solidified her vote for the upcoming election. In the meantime, she said she and other members of the College Democrats are working hard to get fellow students excited about the upcoming election through Debate Watch parties and word of mouth.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to be really active,\u201d said Cooke, a chemistry major from Greenville.<\/p>\n
Furman University is also competing against nine other schools, from The Citadel to Samford University, as part of the SoCon Votes Challenge this fall, said Sulaiman Ahmad \u201918, student leader for the challenge. The political science major has been working on a plan to promote civic engagement by increasing voter registration and turnout among students.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re doing our best to get the vote out,\u201d said Ahmad, a political science major from Greenville. \u201cVoting is your voice.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event, part of Furman\u2019s Cultural Life Program, was sponsored by Furman\u2019s Department of Political Science, College Democrats, College Republicans, and the Furman Debate Society.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Shamael Johar \u201919 thought she had her mind made up, but Monday\u2019s Conversation gave her some food for thought. \u201cI came in thinking one way, but now I\u2019m not sure […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":16340,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}