CENTRAL, SC — State Rep. B.R. Skelton, Republican, debated political newcomer Jason Gale, Democrat, Thursday night in the last debate for the candidates before the Nov. 4 election.

The debate took place in Central and was hosted by the League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan voter education organization that’s mission is encouraging informed choices in voting by supplying information about the candidates, according to Holly Ulbrich, a League member.

Skelton is campaigning to retain the House District 3 seat stressing his 36 years of experience of serving the public, six years of which have been in the state House, and his advocacy for education in the district through his chairmanship of the House education subcommittee. He also is concerned about infrastructure such as bridges and roads and serves on the House Public Works committee. Some issues that Skelton sees as important are economic development, job creation, energy, prisons and health care, he said.

Gale has made “healthy communities” the watchword of his campaign, and he is an advocate of strong public education, conservation of the natural and heritage assets of the district and protection for citizens who have lost income due to illness and injury, he said. He also emphasizes health care for the citizens of South Carolina that is affordable.

While the candidates agreed on many topics, they disagreed on the length of legislative sessions; Gale favored lengthening them to most of the year as some other states, while Skelton said that “three months or less left less time for the Legislature to do damage,” a tongue-in-cheek comment which drew applause from the crowd.

A recurring topic was state taxes. Gale favors raising the South Carolina tax on cigarettes as well as updating the tax code and addressing revenue shortfall for the state budget resulting from decreasing property tax rates. Skelton said revision of the tax code is needed as well as looking at the mistakes made by capping car sales tax at $300 a vehicle and finding ways to support the gasoline tax due to decrease in sales.

Both candidates would support offshore drilling as long as environmental concerns are met and the state could profit from the sale of the natural gas and oil produced.