Editing George Nethercutt (section)

==2004 Senate race==
{{see also|2004 United States Senate election in Washington}}
Rather than running for a sixth term in the House of Representatives, Nethercutt decided to run for [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]] in 2004, hoping to unseat the incumbent, Senator [[Patty Murray]]. He was encouraged to run for the seat by President [[George W. Bush]].<ref name=Roberts/> Term limits again became an issue in the campaign, as Democrats quickly seized on Nethercutt's broken term-limits pledge.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

Nethercutt was also hampered by his lack of name recognition in the more densely populated western part of the state, home to two-thirds of the state's population. Washington has not elected a senator from east of the [[Cascade Mountains|Cascades]] since [[Clarence Dill]] in [[1928 United States Senate election in Washington|1928]]. Other important issues included national security and the [[Iraq War|war in Iraq]]. Nethercutt supported the [[2003 Invasion of Iraq|invasion]] of Iraq, while Murray opposed it.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

Nethercutt was a heavy underdog, and his campaign never gained much traction. In November, he lost by 345,124 votes, receiving 43% of the vote to Murray's 55%. While he dominated the eastern portion of the state, including his own congressional district, he only won two counties west of the Cascades, [[Clark County, Washington|Clark County]] and [[Lewis County, Washington|Lewis County]].{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}