George R. Nethercutt Jr., Who Ousted a House Speaker, Dies at 79
George R. Nethercutt Jr., who as a first-time candidate for Congress in 1994 defeated Thomas S. Foley of Washington State, making Mr. Foley the first House speaker to be ousted by voters since the Civil War era, died on Friday in Colorado. He was 79.
His death, near Denver, was confirmed by his son, Elliott, who said the cause was complications of a neurological disease. The Spokesman Review of Spokane, Wash., reported that Mr. Nethercutt had been diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare brain disease that affects walking, balance, eye movements and swallowing.
Voters in Washington State had approved a ballot initiative in 1992 to impose a three-term limit on members of Congress — a limit that Mr. Foley, who died in 2013, had not only opposed but also successfully challenged in court. After unseating Mr. Foley in 1994, Mr. Nethercutt vowed to serve no more than three terms but reneged on that pledge in 2000 and was re-elected twice more.
Mr. Nethercutt was a 50-year-old Spokane lawyer and political neophyte when he denied Mr. Foley a 16th two-year term, winning with 50.9 percent of the vote to Mr. Foley’s 49 percent. His victory was part of the Republican midterm sweep galvanized by Newt Gingrich’s “Contract With America” campaign. The G.O.P. tide also flipped the makeup of Washington State’s House delegation to seven Republicans and two Democrats from an 8-1 Democratic majority.
George Rector Nethercutt Jr. was born on Oct. 7, 1944, in Spokane to George and Nancy (Sampson) Nethercutt. His father was president of the local school board in the 1960s.
