Nathan Ballentine ousted a Republican legislative leader in Tuesday’s primary thanks to voters in the challenger’s own Dutch Fork neighborhood surrounding River Springs Elementary School.

Ballentine beat House majority leader Rick Quinn 479 to 291 in River Springs. That was his largest margin in any precinct and more than the total margin of victory.

District 71 includes areas of Irmo, Dutch Fork and Harbison and a sliver of Chapin.

While Ballentine made good on a promise to “knock on 3,000 doors” in the run-up to the election, Quinn acknowledged that his legislative duties had precluded him from doing the same.

“It’s a valuable lesson and, ironically, it’s exactly how Quinn got himself elected 16 years ago,” said Phil Savage, a Quinn supporter and president of the Ballentine-Dutch Fork Civic Association.

The lesson rang particularly true in the River Springs precinct, home to several new developments, including Ascot, Belfair Oaks (Ballentine’s home) and Kingston Forest.

“There are a lot of new neighborhoods in that area, and I wasn’t able to get out to them,” said Quinn.

Lexington County educators were miffed at Quinn’s push to change the voting procedures for school board seats, an effort that saw one of the county’s seats transferred to Richland County.

Ballentine won convincingly in Lexington County, 138 to 93.

District 5 Superintendent Dennis McMahon said he called Ballentine Wednesday and pledged to help him focus the Legislature’s attention on public education’s needs.

“I appreciate the contributions Rick has made,” McMahon said. “I think one of the reasons Rick may have lost, however, is that people are frustrated about funding for education.”

District 5 teacher Susan Mathews said her colleagues were upset that Quinn sponsored a tuition tax credit bill championed by Gov. Mark Sanford.

“People are watching public education scrambling for money, and the Legislature is talking about giving people $4,000 tax credits to send their children to private schools. It doesn’t make sense,” said Mathews, a member of the S.C. Education Association.

Nancy Cannon Scherberger, a District 5 parent who supported Quinn, said she was “devastated by the results.”

“We’ve discarded a powerful ally,” she said.

Scherberger said criticism that Quinn lost touch with constituents was unfounded. She did volunteer work for him and witnessed the number of daily phone calls he receives. “Nobody can return that many calls,” she said.

Patrick Cobb, another District 5 parent, said he saluted Quinn’s idea to restructure the tax code to steer more money from a higher sales tax to schools. But as a homeowner, he questioned the potential loss of property tax deductions on his tax returns.

“I felt we needed some fresh influence in the State House,” Cobb said.

Quinn said he spent about $50,000 on the race, and Ballentine said he spent $15,000. They said most of their money was spent on mailings.

But both agreed the election was decided by face time with voters.

“That’s what I heard from voters all along, and I won’t forget it,” said Ballentine. “In fact, I have to go right now and reply to about 80 e-mails I’ve received.”

Reach Wachter at (803) 771-8404 or pwachter@thestate.com.