GREENVILLE, S.C. — After two three-term stints in Congress, Bob Inglis finds himself in the same position as thousands of his fellow South Carolinians — looking for a job.
Unlike the last time he left Congress on his own, Inglis was fired Tuesday night by a resounding vote of the Republican Party, which chose Spartanburg prosecutor Trey Gowdy as its nominee for the 4th District.
Long respected in the ultraconservative district that includes Greenville and Spartanburg, Inglis saw his district shift even more to the right while he decided to become less of a straight party man and learn the art of compromise.
“Ever since coming back to Congress, I really haven’t been a very good match with the partisans,” Inglis said Tuesday night outside a Mexican restaurant in Greenville County where his staffers had gathered for what they knew was going to be an unpleasant evening of watching returns.
Gowdy, a hard-nosed prosecutor who took less than 24 hours to decide he would seek the death penalty in a triple killing in April, won 71 percent of the vote Tuesday and handily beat Inglis in every county. Gowdy’s 54,354 votes nearly matched all the ballots cast in the district in the 2008 primary.
During his second term, Inglis and his district appeared to drift apart. Last year, Inglis joined just six other Republicans in the U.S. House to vote for a statement of disapproval against fellow South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson for shouting “You lie!” at President Obama as he spoke to a joint session of Congress on health care.
Less than three weeks later, Inglis cast the vote that likely doomed his political career, joining the rest of South Carolina’s U.S. House delegation to pass a $700 billion bailout of the nation’s financial industry.
Inglis defends all the votes that rankled some of his constituents, including being one of only a few Republicans to oppose President George W. Bush’s call for more troops in Iraq in 2007. He didn’t gain a lot of supporters either when he suggested voters turn off the TV when Fox News’ controversial conservative commentator Glenn Beck appeared.
