Bob Inglis

For other uses, see Robert Inglis.

Bob Inglis
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina's 4th district
In office January 3, 2005 – January 3, 2011
Preceded by	Jim DeMint
Succeeded by	Trey Gowdy
In office January 3, 1993 – January 3, 1999
Preceded by	Liz Patterson
Succeeded by	Jim DeMint
Personal details
Born	Robert Durden Inglis (1959-10-11) October 11, 1959 Savannah, Georgia
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Mary Anne Inglis
Residence	Travelers Rest, South Carolina
Alma mater	Duke University University of Virginia School of Law
Occupation	Attorney
Religion	Presbyterian Church in America

Robert Durden "Bob" Inglis, Sr. (born October 11, 1959) is an American politician who was the U.S. Representative for South Carolina's 4th congressional district from 1993 to 1999 and again from 2005 to 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party. Inglis was unseated in the Republican primary election.

In 2012, Inglis launched the Energy and Enterprise Initiative, a nationwide public engagement campaign promoting conservative and free-enterprise solutions to energy and climate challenges. E&EI is based out of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, and works to build support for energy policies that are true to conservative principles of limited government, accountability, reasonable risk-avoidance, and free enterprise.

Early life, education, and law career

Inglis was born in Savannah, Georgia, the son of Helen Louise (née McCullough) and Allick Wyllie Inglis, Jr. His ancestry is Scottish and English. He grew up in Bluffton, South Carolina, near Hilton Head Island. He earned his undergraduate degree from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. He obtained his Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law in Charlottesville, Virginia. Upon his graduation from law school, he worked for a number of years as a lawyer in private practice, and served on the executive committee of the Greenville County Republican Party.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

1992

Inglis made his first run for elected office when he won the Republican nomination for the 4th District. In the general election, he defeated three-term incumbent Democrat Liz J. Patterson, who had earlier defeated Bill Workman and Knox H. White, two Republicans who were successive mayors of Greenville, with White still in the position. In this election, incumbent President George H.W. Bush carried the state with 48% of the vote, although he lost nationally, and South Carolina's majority of voters made it one of the strongest Republican-voting states. Although the 4th District had been trending Republican for some time, Patterson had deep family ties in the district as the daughter of the late, longtime U.S. Senator Olin D. Johnston, and she had won her first three terms under unfriendly conditions for Democrats.

1994–1996

Proving just how Republican this district had become, Inglis was re-elected in 1994 and 1996 with no substantive opposition, both times winning more than 70 percent of the vote.

1998

Inglis had promised during his initial bid for the seat to serve only three terms. Accordingly, he vacated the seat in 1998 to run for the Senate against Democratic incumbent Ernest Hollings, who had been in office since 1966, as successor to Olin Johnston. Inglis gave Hollings his second close race in a row, holding the longtime Senator to 53 percent of the vote. After losing the race, Inglis returned to work as a lawyer, practicing commercial real estate and corporate law. He was succeeded in the House by Jim DeMint, who had been an informal adviser to Inglis.

2004

In 2004, DeMint opted to run for Hollings's open Senate seat instead of seeking re-election to the House. Inglis chose to take his old House seat back. He easily won a three-way Republican primary with 85 percent of the vote, all but assuring his return to Congress. He was re-elected with little difficulty in 2006 and 2008.

2010

See also: United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina, 2010 § District 4

Inglis faced four challengers in the Republican primary—the real contest in this heavily Republican district. It was the first time he faced substantive primary opposition as an incumbent. The challengers included 7th Circuit (Spartanburg) Solicitor Trey Gowdy, state Senator David Thomas, college professor and former Historian of the U.S. House Christina Jeffrey, and businessman Jim Lee.

In the June 8, 2010, primary election, Inglis finished second with 27 percent of the vote, well behind first-place finisher Gowdy's 39 percent. He was forced into a June 22 run-off election against Gowdy. Although he had "racked up a reliably conservative record" during his six terms in the house, Inglis had been criticized by his primary opponents for certain Congressional votes, including his support for the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (which earned him the nickname "Bailout Bob") and his opposition to the Iraq War troop surge of 2007, and was portrayed as removed from the interests of the district. Inglis had attacked Gowdy's conservatism and questioned his opponent's support for creating a costly lake in Union County, South Carolina.

In the runoff, Gowdy defeated Inglis in a landslide, 71-29 percent. Following his defeat in the Republican primary, Inglis criticized the Tea Party movement, which had supported his opponents' campaign, as well as the Republican Party for courting the movement, stating, "It's a dangerous strategy, to build conservatism on information and policies that are not credible."

Tenure

Inglis's 2010 Republican primary opponents asserted that his voting record in his second House tenure was more moderate than his first. He was one of seventeen House Republicans who voted for a Democratic resolution opposing the Iraq War troop surge of 2007, and spoke against climate change denial, offshore oil drilling and warrantless surveillance after his return to the House. In response, Inglis pointed to his 93.5% lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union and his endorsements from the National Rifle Association and National Right to Life Committee.

On climate change, Inglis said that conservatives should go with the facts, and the science, and accept the National Academy of Science's conclusion that climate change is caused by human activities and poses significant risks, which 95 percent of climate scientists agree with. Studies conclude that coal power plants are responsible for 23,600 premature deaths in the U.S. per year, and conservatives should hold them accountable, he said, perhaps with a carbon tax on their emissions.

Inglis is a staunch advocate of a federal prohibition of online poker. He also supported actions to aid people in war-torn Darfur. In 2006, he co-sponsored H.R. 4411, the Goodlatte-Leach Internet Gambling Prohibition Act and H.R. 4777, the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act. On December 27, 2008 Inglis published an op-ed in The New York Times in support of a revenue neutral carbon tax.

In October 2007, before the South Carolina 2008 Republican presidential primary, Inglis told presidential candidate Mitt Romney, a Mormon, "[Y]ou cannot equate Mormonism with Christianity; you cannot say, 'I am a Christian just like you.'" Inglis stated "If he [Romney] does that, every Baptist preacher in the South is going to have to go to the pulpit on Sunday and explain the differences.”

On September 15, 2009, Inglis was one of seven Republicans to cross party lines in voting to disapprove fellow South Carolina Republican Joe Wilson for a lack of decorum during President Obama's address to a joint session of Congress. He was one of eight House Republicans to support the DREAM Act.

Committee assignments

In the 111th Congress:

• Committee on Foreign Affairs
  • Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global Environment
  • Subcommittee on Europe
  • Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia
• Committee on Science and Technology
  • Subcommittee on Energy and Environment (Ranking Member)
  • Science Subcommittee on Research and Science Education

Electoral history

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South Carolina's 4th congressional district, 1992:

• Bob Inglis, Republican – 99,879 (50.34%)
• Elizabeth J. Patterson, Democrat – 94,182 (47.47%)
• Jo Jorgensen, Libertarian – 4,286 (2.16%)
• Write-in candidates – 63 (0.03%)

South Carolina's 4th congressional district, 1994:

• Bob Inglis, Republican – 109,626 (73.49%)
• Jerry L. Fowler, Democrat – 39,396 (26.41%)
• Write-in candidates – 154 (0.10%)

South Carolina's 4th congressional district, 1996:

• Bob Inglis, Republican – 138,165 (70.93%)
• Darrell E. Curry, Democrat – 54,126 (27.79%)
• C. Faye Walters, Natural Law – 2,501 (1.28%)

United States Senate election in South Carolina, 1998 – Republican primary:

• Bob Inglis – 115,029 (74.60%)
• Stephen Brown – 33,530 (21.75%)
• Elton Legrand – 5,634 (3.65%)

United States Senate election in South Carolina, 1998:

• Ernest Hollings, Democrat – 563,377 (52.70%)
• Bob Inglis, Republican – 488,238 (45.67%)
• Richard T. Quillian, Libertarian – 16,991 (1.59%)
• Write-in candidates – 457 (0.04%)

South Carolina's 4th congressional district, 2004:

• Bob Inglis, Republican – 188,795 (69.77%)
• Brandon P. Brown, Democrat – 78,376 (28.96%)
• C. Faye Walters, Green – 3,273 (1.21%)
• Write-in candidates – 150 (0.06%)

South Carolina's 4th congressional district, 2006:

• Bob Inglis, Republican – 115,553 (64.22%)
• William Griff Griffith, Democrat – 57,490 (31.95%)
• John Cobin, Libertarian – 4,467 (2.48%)
• C. Faye Walters, Green – 2,336 (1.30%)
• Write-in candidates – 85 (0.05%)

South Carolina's 4th congressional district, 2008 – Republican primary:

• Bob Inglis – 37,571 (66.95%)
• Charles Jeter – 18,545 (33.05%)

South Carolina's 4th congressional district, 2008:

• Bob Inglis, Republican – 184,440 (60.09%)
• Paul Corden, Democrat – 113,291 (36.91%)
• C. Faye Walters, Green – 7,332 (2.39%)
• Write-in candidates – 1,865 (0.61%)

South Carolina's 4th congressional district, 2010 – Republican primary:

• Trey Gowdy – 34,103 (39.22%)
• Bob Inglis – 23,877 (27.46%)
• Jim Lee – 11,854 (13.63%)
• David Thomas – 11,073 (12.74%)
• Christina Jeffrey – 6,041 (6.95%)

South Carolina's 4th congressional district, 2010 – Republican primary runoff:

• Trey Gowdy – 54,412 (70.66%)
• Bob Inglis – 22,590 (29.34%)

Awards and honors

Inglis was the recipient of the 2015 Profile in Courage Award from the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation "for the courage he demonstrated when reversing his position on climate change after extensive briefings with scientists, and discussions with his children, about the impact of atmospheric warming on our future." His embrace of the scientific evidence of climate change and advocacy for a carbon tax drew intense criticism from fellow Republicans, and Inglis was defeated in the June 2010 Republican primary.

Personal life

When not in Washington, D.C., Inglis resides with his wife Mary Anne and their five children on a small farm near Travelers Rest, north of Greenville. He is a member of the Redeemer Presbyterian Church, a conservative Presbyterian Church of America congregation in Greenville.

In 2015, he signed an amicus brief calling for the recognition of same-sex marriage.

External links

• Bob Inglis for U.S. Congress at the Wayback Machine (archived February 3, 2010) official campaign site
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Profile at Project Vote Smart
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Appearances on C-SPAN

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Liz Patterson	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina's 4th congressional district 1993–1999	Succeeded by Jim DeMint
Preceded by Jim DeMint	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina's 4th congressional district 2005–2011	Succeeded by Trey Gowdy
Party political offices
Preceded by Thomas F. Hartnett	Republican Party nominee for United States Senator from South Carolina (Class 3) 1998	Succeeded by Jim DeMint