<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This section does not cite any sources . Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (February 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> Despite increasing Republican strength in national elections, after the 1990 census, Texas Democrats still controlled both houses of the State Legislature and most statewide offices . As a result, they directed the redistricting process after the decennial census . Although Congressional Texas Democrats received an average of 40 percent of the votes, Democrats consistently had a majority in the state delegation, as they had in every election since at least the end of Reconstruction . </P> <P> In 1994, Democratic Governor Ann Richards lost her bid for re-election against Republican George W. Bush, ending an era in which Democrats controlled the governorship for all but eight of the past 120 years . Republicans have won the governorship ever since . In 1998, Bush won re-election in a landslide victory, with Republicans sweeping to victory in all the statewide races . </P> <P> After the 2000 census, the Republican - controlled state Senate sought to draw a congressional district map that would guarantee a Republican majority in the state's delegation . The Democrat - controlled state House desired to retain a plan similar to the existing lines . There was an impasse . With the Legislature unable to reach a compromise, the matter was settled by a panel of federal court judges, who ruled in favor of a district map that largely retained the status quo . </P>

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