Washington's 5th congressional district encompasses the Eastern Washington counties of Ferry, Stevens, Pend Oreille, Lincoln, Spokane, Whitman, Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield, and Asotin, along with parts of Adams and Franklin. It is centered on Spokane, the state's second largest city. Since 2005, the 5th district has been represented in the U.S. House of Representatives by Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican. Rodgers's predecessor, George Nethercutt, defeated Democrat Tom Foley, then Speaker of the House, in the 1994 elections; Foley had held the seat since 1965.