Six candidates are vying for the chance to fill the District 121 House seat vacated by Walter Lloyd, who died in April.

The winners in Tuesday's primary elections will square off in an Aug. 16 election for the chance to serve parts of southern Colleton County and northern Beaufort County in the House for one year.

The four Democrats are Pastor Ja-Don Buckner, the Rev. Kenneth Hodges, businessman Bobby Mayes and Walterboro attorney Reaves McLeod.

Jennifer Bailey and Brad Dralle, small-business owners from Beaufort, will compete in Tuesday's Republican primary.

All of the Democratic candidates stressed the need for jobs and better educational opportunities.

Buckner, pastor of the Walterboro Christian Center, said parents should be able decide what schools their children should attend.

"I think competition is good," he said. "We have nothing to make the schools get better."

He also favors letting Jasper County build a port to help bring jobs to the depressed region.

"It would be excellent for us and excellent for them."

Hodges, who owns a home in Colleton County while preaching at a church in Beaufort and owning an art gallery in Beaufort, said that without jobs, good schools can only do so much.

"We have to have jobs in place so they can return to this area if they choose to," he said.He wants to level off property taxes.

"The value of land is escalating so high in this area that it's going to drive some people out of their homes," he said.

McLeod said the state should fund schools completely and equitably.

He also wants better roads, particularly U.S. 17, which has had a rash of deadly wrecks, and more water and sewer services in rural areas to help development.

"I'm not talking about Hilton Head development, I'm not talking about Charleston development," he said. "I'm talking about development needed to give people in rural areas the quality of life they deserve."

Mayes, a Colleton County tree farmer, also said the state should fully and equitably fund schools. He also pledged to work toward widening U.S. 17 "with all of my heart."

He wants to see taxes rolled back to where they were in the 1960s and 1970s, in part by eliminating a $300 cap on sales tax for cars.

"I don't think that's fair for the people," he said of the tax that is the same for a $10,000 car and a $100,000 car. "It's like a parasite preying on something small and something needs to be done about that."

In the Republican primary, Bailey and Dralle said they would like to provide residents with some relief from property taxes.

Dralle, a farmer for 30 years in Lobeco before becoming president of Burton Contractors in 1998, said there needs to be some type of cap on personal property taxes.

"We're paying for the same taxes year after year on the same vehicle," he said.

Bailey, a U.S. Marine for nine years before opening her own graphic design business, Spectrum, The Graphics Art Center, in Beaufort, said she wants property taxes based on the selling price.

"We have to make sure that people who have inherited property or have property that they're buying new but planning on retiring in a couple of years, can afford to pay for it," she said.

Dralle also supports a merit-based system that would reward good schools and teachers with money and good students with some type of award.

"We need to reward good schools, reward good teachers, and most importantly reward good students," he said.

Bailey said more money needs to go toward schools.

"We've got to get our children educated and put them in a place they can be more productive," she said. "We need to take care of our children and our teachers."