Republican Jennifer Bailey and Democrat Kenneth Hodges are vying to fill the seat left vacant by the April death of Rep. Walter Lloyd, D-Walterboro.
Party and congressional leaders have publicly supported their own candidates, with Republicans hoping to steal the long-standing Democratic seat and Democrats recognizing the difficulty they'll have pulling in voters for a special election.
District 121 comprises more than 14,000 registered voters in Beaufort and Colleton counties, with 62 percent 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.
The impoverished Sheldon community lies in the middle of the mostly rural House district. Consultants recently completed a $22,000 grant to analyze economic development opportunities in the community, noting that 30 percent of the residents are living on less than $8,000 a year.
"It's hard to support a family and provide adequate child care on that income," Hodges said last week.
With state affordable housing and job tax credits based on per capita income, of which Beaufort County has the highest in the state, Bailey said state officials need to look past annual incomes strengthened by military personnel and retirees to find the struggling working class.
"We're leaving those people behind," she said.
Economic development that will bring jobs to the area won't come without providing the infrastructure ahead of time, Hodges said.
"We don't have the water or sewer that industries would need to locate there," he said.
County growth restrictions limiting infrastructure in the region could be revisited when the county's comprehensive plan is considered for changes in the future.
The district also can take advantage of preserved rivers and wildlife and the region's history to draw tourists, Hodges said.
"A lot of people want to come in and take advantage of our pristine beauty," he said.
Gov. Mark Sanford's efforts to lower the income tax rate would be the short-term incentive for new businesses, Bailey said, but long-term success will be contingent on improving schools and preparing students for the workforce.
Education provides the sharpest differences between the candidates. While Hodges wants more money for education, Bailey said the money is there on the state level, it's just misspent.
"We need to cut the fat in the administrative area," she said.
More money would provide the salary and supplies needed to keep teachers, Hodges said.
"We need to increase teachers' pay so we will not be losing what is our brightest minds to other districts," he said.
Hodges said focused efforts on economic development in the area may provide the tax dollars necessary for these initiatives.
The candidates are also split on a Sanford initiative that failed to exit the legislature last year that would provide tax credits for parents that transfer their children to private schools.
Hodges said he opposes the measure because it will pit public schools against private schools for the same dollars. But Bailey said the plan has been administered in other states without dooming public schools.
"No state has ever failed that had this program, and no school has run out of money," she said.
Both candidates have been supportive of efforts in the legislature to provide property tax relief. Bailey said a 20 percent cap on property tax bill increases proposed by Rep. Richard Chalk, R-Hilton Head, is a possible short-term solution.
"I see that as the quick fix to have some relief for taxpayers," she said.
County leaders have been searching through a variety of methods to reduce the burden that they place on property tax payers but with limited results.
Bailey praised the county's 2.5 percent admissions fee that will be charged at movie theaters, golf courses and other places of amusement beginning in October to help fund road needs in lieu of a tax hike.
But Bailey, owner of Spectrum The Graphic Arts Center, said proposed business fee hikes going to the general fund and economic development initiatives would be counterproductive and not attract business.
"The state doesn't make jobs; the county doesn't make jobs. Small-business owners are the ones who make jobs," she said. "If you're getting started with a business, that's a rough start."
Also a small-business owner, Hodges said the county can increase the minimal fees and still compete for industries and business. Hodges owns Lybensons Gallery in downtown Beaufort.
Hodges also supports a proposed local option sales tax, a 1 percent increase in the sales tax to largely provide property tax relief and limited capital improvement funding.
The County Council hasn't decided whether to offer up the sales tax in a referendum to voters, but Hodges said it was successful in Marlboro County where he served on the Bennetsville City Council.
"It's a means of tax relief," he said. "Communities that have adopted it are seeing property taxes rolled back."
Both candidates support increasing the state's gas and cigarette taxes as long as the money is narrowly targeted to road needs and Medicare reforms, respectively.
Hodges said he'll fight to keep U.S. 17 widening on the front burner in Columbia. Legislators from Beaufort, Colleton and Charleston counties have come out in support of the widening, expected to cost between $150 million and $200 million.
State Department of Transportation efforts to appease environmental permitting agencies with 100-foot conservation buffers should be pulled out of the project to ensure that the work is completed, Bailey said.
"Get the public safety issue resolved and worry about the buffers afterward," she said.