Another incumbent member of Congress has gone down in defeat in their primary — and in this case, it’s a big win for the Tea Party-style right and a defeat for GOP moderation, with Rep. Bob Inglis losing to Spartanburg County Solicitor Trey Gowdy.
With 75% of precincts reporting, Gowdy leads Inglis by a whopping 73%-27%. In the first-round primary two weeks ago, Gowdy had actually come in first place with 39%, and Inglis was behind at 28% — practically the death-knell for the incumbent. In the home stretch of the primary, Inglis appeared on the Colbert Report, in an interview making fun of his own dire straits, and even included a joke about the Birthers.
Inglis had been targeted for defeat by the right, due his various heresies from core conservative doctrines: He has called for action on climate change, told Tea Partiers to “turn Glenn Beck off,” and he called upon fellow South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson to apologize for yelling “You lie” at President Obama during that famous addresses to Congress in September 2009. Combine that with a general anti-incumbent, anti-Washington mood in the country, and you have one defeated Congressman.
