BEAUFORT -- Democrat Kenneth Hodges won a special election for the S.C. House of Representatives District 121 seat Tuesday night, according to unofficial results.

A Colleton County resident and Beaufort gallery owner and pastor, Hodges bested Beaufort Republican Jennifer Bailey to fill the seat left vacant after the April death of Rep. Walter Lloyd, D-Walterboro.

District 121 comprises more than 14,000 registered voters in Beaufort and Colleton counties. Sixty-two percent of its voters live in northern Beaufort County, including Yemassee and Sheldon, part of Burton, all of Pigeon Point and downtown Beaufort north of North Street and west of Charles Street.

Hodges received 1,179 of the 1,878 votes cast between the two counties, or 62 percent, according to unofficial results.

State Democratic Party leaders, with concerns that low voter turnout could cripple chances of keeping the long-standing Democratic seat, had been rallying voters to come out in large numbers.

"I'm enthused," Hodges said of the victory. "We had support in both counties across party lines and across racial lines."

Hodges received 856 of the 1,243 votes cast in Beaufort County, or 70 percent. In Colleton, Hodges got 438 of 762 votes, or 57 percent.

Both candidates focused on education, job growth and property tax relief in their campaigns.

Hodges also highlighted his roots in rural Colleton County. Lloyd was Colleton's only resident representative; previous legislators had represented the area from homes in Jasper, Charleston, Hampton, Orangeburg and Berkeley counties.

Hodges' strong Beaufort ties, as owner of Lybensons Gallery and pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church in downtown Beaufort, kept the county's voters undeterred by his Colleton County address, said Jane Frederick, Beaufort County Democratic Party chairwoman.

"With him," she said, "we almost had the best of both worlds."

Hodges said he'll work hard in the legislature to bridge the gap between the two counties during his 15-month term.

"Right now, I'm going to catch my breath and thank my supporters," he said Tuesday night.

The Beaufort County Board of Elections and Voter Registration is expected to certify the results at 11 a.m. Thursday in the conference room of the Clemson Extension Office at the Beaufort Industrial Village.