Ervin, Haley First to Accept Invitation to Debates

Gov. Nikki Haley and independent Republican candidate for governor Tom Ervin accepted an offer from ABC News 4, The Post and Courier, WPDE, WACH, and WLOS to appear at a pair of gubernatorial debates.

Ervin's camp issued the first acceptance Thursday. Ervin's campaign adviser Matt David said in a release Thursday Ervin was accepting the offer to appear because the voters of the state should hear each candidate's vision for the state.

Ervin is trailing Haley and Sen. Vincent Sheheen in the polls. A recent ABC News 4/Post and Courier poll shows Ervin with 3 percent of the vote.

"We fully anticipate that each candidate will follow Tom's lead and accept this invitation because rejecting this opportunity would deny voters this fundamental component of the democratic process and send the message that they have something to hide. Tom looks forward to discussing his common sense vision to repair our crumbling roads, provide every child a world class education, and implement tough ethics reform to clean-up Columbia," David said.

The first debate will be held in the Charleston area on Oct. 14 and focus on jobs, economy, and state growth. The second debate will be held a week later in the Greenville area and focus on education and health care.

The Post and Courier and ABC News 4 are partnering with WACH in Columbia, WPDE in Myrtle Beach, and WLOS in Greenville to reach most of the state's voters through broadcast and print.

Both of the debates will be streamed live on ABCNews4.com.

There will be two debates hosted by The Post and Courier, WCIV-TV in Charleston, WACH-TV in Columbia, WPDE-TV in Myrtle Beach and WLOS-TV/WMYA-TV in the Greenville market. 

The first debate will be in the Charleston media market on Tuesday, Oct. 14 and it will focus on jobs, the economy and growth.

The second debate will be held in the Greenville/Spartanburg media market on Tuesday, Oct. 21. and it will focus on education and healthcare.

Each debate will be hosted by a panel of journalists and broadcast by the event's media partners and live streamed online.