WALTERBORO--The majority of Colleton County voters may have wanted attorney Reaves McLeod to win Tuesday night's House District 121 Democratic primary election, but in the end, the choice wasn't theirs.

The Rev. Kenneth Hodges, a Beaufort pastor and art gallery owner, captured roughly 78 percent of the vote in Beaufort County, giving him an overall margin of victory of about 60 percent in the four-way race, unofficial records show.

If the victory stands, Hodges will run against Beaufort Republican Jennifer Bailey in an Aug. 16 general election. Bailey beat businessman Brad Dralle in the GOP's Tuesday primary by a margin of 72 to 28 percent.

The final numbers reflect all 10 Colleton County precincts but only 16 of the 17 Beaufort County precincts. The 17th precinct, representing less than 6 percent of the total ballots in Beaufort, is being challenged and won't be decided until Thursday, a spokeswoman said.

Hodges was happy to hear that he likely escaped a runoff.

"That's unprecedented," he said. "I always thought there was a possibility of winning without a runoff; that was our goal. People stuck with me and we were able to do it."

Hodges' victory was bittersweet for many Colleton County voters, who are desperate for representation following the April death of Rep. Walter Lloyd, its only resident legislator.

Hodges grew up in Colleton County but didn't declare his Bennetts Point house his legal residence until days before filing for the seat.

He acknowledged earlier this month that he spent most of his time at his home outside of the district in Beaufort, where he pastors the Tabernacle Baptist Church.It was clear when the ballots were counted that much of his support came from Beaufort, which has 3,000 more registered voters than Colleton County in District 121.

McLeod captured about 50 percent of the vote in Colleton County, but even if he had received all of the county's 1,001 Democratic votes, he would have still lost to Hodges, who received at least 1,210 votes in Beaufort.

"I won over 50 percent of the Colleton County vote, but Beaufort County voters decided they wanted a Beaufort County representative, so they voted for Hodges," McLeod said. "I hope whichever Beaufort County candidate wins will look after Colleton County a little bit."

Both Hodges and Bailey said they intend to represent both counties equally.

Bailey's victory in the Republican primary was based on far fewer voters than in the Democratic primary, but it was overwhelming all the same.

She received 104 votes to Dralle's three votes in Colleton County and earned roughly 67 percent of the vote in Beaufort County.

Bailey, a former U.S. Marine for nine years before opening her own graphic design business, Spectrum, The Graphics Art Center, said she's excited about the general election.

"That's awesome," Bailey said. "It's going to be a tough race, but I'm willing to go at it."

Though the district is more than 60 percent black and traditionally Democratic, she said she's got a chance to win.

"I really do," she said. "It's going to be well worth every day in the special election."

Rounding out the Democratic primary were Bobby Mayes, a Colleton County tree farmer, and Ja-Don Buckner, pastor of the Walterboro Christian Center.

Mayes received about 8 percent of the vote while Buckner received about 5 percent.