GEORGETOWN - In the race for House District 108, constituents must decide whether they want someone with experience and seniority or membership in the majority party.

State Rep. Vida Miller, D-Pawleys Island, is running for a fifth two-year term in an area where the voter trend is leaning toward Republican.

Her opponent is Republican Charles Smith, a political newcomer who says he can do more for residents because he is a member of the party that controls the state House, Senate and Governor's Office.

Miller said Smith's party affiliation does not make much difference in meeting constituents' needs.

"It takes having working relationships on both sides of the aisle to be able to get anything done in Columbia," said Miller, a Pawleys Island businesswoman and artist.

The issues residents care about are jobs, transportation funding, environmental protection and others that are not partisan, she said.

Miller said she has been effective in eight years in getting Georgetown County a larger share of state money, and that now is not the time to change House members because the district also has a new senator taking office.

Smith, a Georgetown attorney, said, "I think there's merit to her experience, and I think there's merit to my experience."

He has practiced law in Georgetown for 24 years and has often represented state agencies such as Department of Social Services, Santee Cooper and Waccamaw Regional. That work gave him the knowledge of how agencies work, he said.

Lawyer skills in persuasion and seeking consensus also can benefit the district's constituents, Smith said.

Smith doesn't differ from Miller on all issues. He said he agrees with her environmental positions, which got her a 100 percent approval rating from a consortium of the state's conservation groups.

But he thinks he could be more effective working through the House GOP leadership for environmental protection laws.

They also agree transportation is the area's biggest need, in the form of better roads.