After an election cycle in which the Republicans picked up nearly two-dozen additional seats in the Texas Legislature, a new endangered political species has been identified at the Capitol: the white Democratic woman.

State Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, is the lone remaining Anglo female Democrat in the Texas House, having watched four of her kind be defeated on Nov. 2: Valinda Bolton of Austin, Carol Kent of Dallas and Kristi Thibaut and Ellen Cohen, both of Houston. In the Senate — where men hold 25 of 31 seats — state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, is, like Howard, the single white female ...

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