Norma Chávez never claimed to care much about whether fellow politicians liked her. A consummate campaign organizer who fought first and compromised later — if ever — she time again won over voters in her central El Paso district, who first sent her to the Texas House in 1996.

But over the past two years, her fighting turned to bullying, her aggressiveness to dysfunction, and she lost touch with the constituents who had championed her brash style, according to campaign advisers and political analysts. Ultimately, the devolution culminated in public meltdowns that cost Chávez her job in Tuesday’s ...

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