User:12george1/1994 Washington's 5th congressional district election

Washington's 5th congressional district election, 1994

November 8, 1994

Nominee George Nethercutt Tom Foley Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 110,057 106,074 Percentage 50.92% 49.08%

U.S. Representative before election Tom Foley Democratic Elected U.S. Representative George Nethercutt Republican

The 1994 United States House of Representatives election for the 5th district in Washington took place on November 8, 1994, to elect a representative from Washington's 5th congressional district for the 104th United States Congress. Incumbent Tom Foley, then serving as the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, faced a tough re-election bid in the midst of the 1994 Republican Revolution. After receiving just under 35% of the vote in a blanket primary held on September 20, Foley advanced to the general election against George Nethercutt, an attorney and former chairman of the Spokane County Republican Party. In the general election, Nethercutt defeated Foley 51 percent to 49 percent, by a margin of approximately 4,000 votes.

Following this election, Nethercutt would be re-elected four times, before retiring to mount an unsuccessful senate bid in 2004.

District

Washington's 5th congressional district is located at the eastern end of Washington and includes Spokane, the state's second most populous city. In 1994, the district included Adams, Asotin, Columbia, Ferry, Garfield, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Spokane, Stevens, Walla Walla, and Whitman counties. Although described as a Republican-leaning district, Democratic incumbent Tom Foley had been elected every two years since 1964.

Background

Foley was elected to represent Washington's 5th congressional district in 1964, when he defeated incumbent Republican Walt Horan by a margin of 53.45 percent to 46.55 percent. Foley subsequently won re-election 14 times. Although Foley sometimes easily won re-election, a few elections were by a close margin, especially in 1978 and 1980. After Jim Wright of Texas resigned as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives in June 1989, Foley was elected to replace Wright as speaker, defeating Republican House Minority Leader Robert H. Michel from Illinois by a vote of 251–164. By the early 1990s, support for term limits grew among residents of Washington, with voters approving the Initiative to the People 573 in 1992, a referendum to enact term limits. Foley strongly opposed the referendum and was involved in a successful effort in challenging its constitutionality, as state law cannot set eligibility requirements on federal offices.

Campaign

• Duane Alton (Republican), nominee for the district in 1976 and 1978
• Tom Foley (Democrat), incumbent and Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
• Edward Larish (Republican), machinist
• George Nethercutt (Republican), attorney and former chairman of the Spokane County Republican Party
• John Sonneland (Republican), nominee for the district in 1980, 1982, and 1992

Tom Foley, the incumbent and Speaker of the House of Representatives, began raising money in 1993 for his 1994 re-election campaign. Despite collecting nearly $600,000 that year – an another higher than he raised in the previous two years – an October 1993 poll of voters in the district indicated that Foley would face a tough re-election bid. Many of the 400 respondents indicated disapproval with Congress and partly blamed Foley for their dissatisfaction. By December 1993, Foley's critics, especially Republicans and Ross Perot supporters in the district had already expressed more confidence in the possibility of his defeat in 1994 than in previous election cycles. However, Republicans initially struggled to recruit candidates. Randy Shaw, a local television anchorman, considered running but announced in November 1993 that he would not challenge Foley. After no Republican candidates emerged by March 1994, and due to the large amount of money raised by Foley, some political observers, including Gonzaga University political science professor Blaine Garvin, predicted that Foley would easily win re-election.

A key endorsement occurred late in the race when Perot announced his support for Nethercutt. Perot received approximately 23 percent of the vote in the district in the 1992 presidential election. Nethercutt and Perot also appeared together at a free campaign rally and a $100-per-ticket reception. Around that time, approximately 10 percent of respondents to an opinion poll indicated that they were undecided.

Results

Primary election

Tom Foley and George Nethercutt received the two largest percentages of votes, at 34.93 percent and 29.49 percent, respectively. Therefore, Foley and Nethercutt advanced to the general election.

Blanket primary, Washington's 5th congressional district, September 20, 1994

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Tom Foley	44,829	34.93
	Republican	George Nethercutt	37,844	29.49
	Republican	Duane Alton	25,177	19.62
	Republican	John Sonneland	19,415	15.13
	Republican	Edward Larish	1,085	0.85
Total votes			128,350	100.00

General election

Nethercutt defeated Foley by just under 4,000 votes, a narrow margin of 1.12 percent.

Washington's 5th congressional district general election, November 8, 1994

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	George Nethercutt	110,057	50.92
	Democratic	Tom Foley	106,074	49.08
Total votes			216,131	100.00
	Republican gain from Democratic

Aftermath

With Nethercutt emerging victorious, Foley became the first Speaker of the United States House of Representatives to lose re-election to his seat since Galusha A. Grow in 1862, and only the third in United States history, the first being William Pennington in 1860. Foley's loss occurred during the Republican Revolution, which saw Republicans gain 54 US house seats, 8 US senate seats, and 10 governorships. In the state of Washington alone, Republicans won seven US house seats, after winning only one in 1992. With the Republicans now holding a majority in the US House of Representatives, minority whip Newt Gingrich of Georgia was elected Speaker of the House. Although Nethercutt would not seek political office again, President Bill Clinton appointed him as Chair of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board in 1996 and 1997, before appointing him as the United States Ambassador to Japan, a role he served in from 1997 to 2001. Foley later served as North American Chairman of the Trilateral Commission. He died in Washington, D.C. on October 18, 2013.

Nethercutt was inaugurated as the representative from Washington's 5th congressional district on January 3, 1995. Although vowing to only serve three terms, he successfully sought a fourth term in 2000 and a fifth term in 2002. Nethercutt retired in 2004 to mount a bid for that year's election to the United States Senate seat in Washington. His broken term limits pledge, support for the Iraq War, and limited name recognition in the more heavily-populated western portions of the state allowed incumbent Patty Murray to easily win re-election. Nethercutt was succeeded in the House of Representatives by fellow Republican Cathy McMorris Rodgers. Since leaving office in 2005, Nethercutt has since served on a political lobbying firm and as a member of several corporate boards.