Hoping to sway voters in the days before the general election, All Children Matter has purchased $83,000 worth of TV ads supporting state Senate candidate Ken Wingate.

The Michigan-based political action committee supports candidates who favor school choice. The group has an S.C. chapter, led by West Columbia businessman Peter Brown.

Wingate, a Republican who is challenging state Rep. Joel Lourie, D-Richland, for a Richland-Kershaw state Senate seat, supports proposed legislation that would give tax credits to parents to help pay for private school tuition.

“We feel like it’s a race we can make a difference in,” Brown said.

In September, Wingate told The State newspaper he had sent word to the group that he did not want it to get involved.

“If they do weigh into the general election, then I will denounce their participation,” Wingate said then.

Lourie on Thursday, pointed to that statement. “It’s incumbent on him to publicly ask them to withdraw their ad buys and stay out of the race,” he said.

Wingate said Thursday there was no tie between his campaign and All Children Matter or any other organization. But he did not suggest the group should stop running its ads.

Wingate said he was referring to the group’s national organization when he pledged to denounce the group’s participation. Since the ads refer to All Children Matter of South Carolina, he said he saw no need to criticize them.

“My understanding is that the new ad is being run by a South Carolina organization,” Wingate said.

He compared it to the S.C. Education Association, a state affiliate of the National Education Association, which has endorsed Lourie and contributed to his campaign.

Lourie said Wingate was “fooling himself.”

“He clearly made a pledge 30 days ago to denounce their participation, and he has broken his word.”

The candidates elevated the rhetoric Thursday in what has been a heated campaign to replace retiring state Sen. Warren Giese.

Wingate said Lourie was “hypocritical and disingenuous” in issuing negative attacks in the campaign while pledging to run a positive one.

The All Children Matter ads do not mention school choice. Instead, they focus on Wingate’s work with Gov. Mark Sanford as chairman of the commission on government reform.

All Children Matter endorsed Wingate over 5th Circuit Solicitor Barney Giese in the GOP primary. (Barney Giese, the current senator’s son, endorsed Lourie this week.) It also helped Joan Brady defeat Susan Brill in a state House primary.

All Children Matter is interested in S.C. politics because of Sanford’s support of a bill that would offer tuition tax credits to parents to send their children to private school. Wingate supports the proposal.

Lourie opposes the measure because he said it would take tax dollars out of public schools.

Reach Drake at (803) 771-8692 or jdrake@thestate.com.