He was called to the Bahamas Bar in December 1972 and eventually became senior partner in the law firm of Christie, Ingraham and Co.

He entered front-line politics in 1975, when he was elected to the National General Council of the then ruling Progressive Liberal Party.

He previously served as a member of the Air Transport Licensing Authority and Chairman of the Real Property Tax Tribunal.

Following brief employment in the accounting departments of Owens-Illinois Sugar Mill Company in Abaco and The Bahamas Telecommunications Corporation and the Chase Manhattan Bank in Nassau, Ingraham became an articled law clerk in the Chambers of McKinney Bancroft and Hughes.

He was re-elected to Parliament in the General Election of June 1982, and appointed Minister of Housing and National Insurance (1982-1984).

[2] In 1982, he also became Chairman of The Bahamas Mortgage Corporation, an institution established to secure and guarantee housing financing for Bahamians in need of that service.

In the general election of 19 August 1992, Ingraham led the Free National Movement to a stunning 32–17 victory over the Progressive Liberal Party, and thus ended the 25-year hold on power of Prime Minister Sir Lynden Pindling.

By the end of his first term, he was sitting on a Bahamian economy which was going into recession, brought on by a global downturn in productivity, sparked by the dot.com bubble bust and the attacks of 9–11, exacerbated by massive exits of foreign capital, due to new banking regulations set in place by his administration.

said that the failure of the referendum led to the resounding defeat at the polls for the FNM in 2002, with a 29–7 overwhelming margin of victory for the incoming Progressive Liberal Party.

Although Ingraham retained his North Abaco seat, he did not immediately return to party leadership, as Leader of the Opposition nor of house business.

In the general election held on 2 May 2007, the FNM won a majority of seats, defeating the PLP, and Ingraham was sworn in as prime minister on 4 May.