In 1983, he became at twenty-eight the youngest member ever elected to the Greenville City Council, in which he represented District 1 during the early tenure of MayorBill Workman. In 1986, Haskins was elected as a conservative Republican to the state legislature from the district that contained Bob Jones University and held that seat until his death. In 1990, he lost a bid for the United States House of Representatives from South Carolina's 4th congressional district to the Democrat Liz J. Patterson, who had previously defeated the Republicans Bill Workman in 1986 and Knox H. White in 1988, the current mayor of Greenville. Although he continued to take conservative positions on such topics as sex education in the schools, Haskins quickly developed bipartisan relationships in the state legislature, having endorsed affirmative action, the election of African American judges, and the admission of women to The Citadel. Haskins's support for extending scholarships for South Carolina residents to the then-unaccredited Bob Jones University was accepted by the legislative Black Caucus because unaccredited black schools were also included in the final bill. In 1995, Haskins was elected speaker pro-tempore of the House. By 1999, he was influential in settling the two most divisive political issues of the period, including the compromise by which the legislature was able to remove the Confederate battle flag from flying over the state capitol. Through careful political strategy, he was also able to end video poker in South Carolina, an issue that had led to the defeat in 1998 of one-term Republican GovernorDavid Beasley. Carl Langley, writing in the Edgefield Daily, declared:
Let us bow this morning to the ingenuity of Rep. Terry Haskins and the wisdom of our Supreme Court which stood upfor the people while many elected to represent us took to cover in the tall grass. It was Haskins who wrote the amendment to poker legislation that called for its banishment if the court ruled against a referendum on the games. The Supreme Court, in unanimity I add, did just as Haskins expected. The court told the cowards in our legislature to enact our laws and not hand untidy things over to the people. There are few Medal of Honor winners in the General Assembly, but Haskins is a brave and fearless warrior who served the people well.
In October 1999, Haskins became co-chairman of the SouthCarolina campaign organization of U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona. After the national furor over the campaign visit of McCain's intraparty opponent, George W. Bush, the governor of Texas, to Bob Jones University in February 2000, Haskins withdrew from the campaign because of what he called McCain's "religious baiting". Haskins and McCain remained personal friends.
Death at 45
The day that Haskins was elected speaker pro-tem in 1995, he discovered a lump under his right arm, which was quickly diagnosed as a melanoma. By July 2000, the cancer had spread to his brain, and he lost his hearing and most of the use of his left arm. At his death in October, he was nearly paralyzed. In January 2005, a Greenville bridge was named in his honor. Haskins was survived by his wife, Gloria Arias Haskins, a native of Colombia, South America and their four sons, David, Bryan, Hayden, and Harlan Haskins. Mrs. Haskins successfully ran for her late husband's seat in the state legislature and became one of the first Latina members of the South Carolina legislature.
