2002 proved to be the last gasp for Texas Democrats on a federal level, as they won a majority (17/32) of the state's Congressional districts for a final time. One of those districts was TX-01, which had been represented by Max Sandlin (D) since 1997 and by Democrats as a whole since Reconstruction. Sandlin, who earned a reputation both as a moderate consensus builder and an effective communicator, was expected to easily win re-election in this ancestrally-Democratic district. On election day, Sandlin did just that, dispatching Republican John Lawrence (no relation to John Lawrence of Lawrence v. Texas) by almost 13%. Sandlin did well throughout the predominately rural district, particularly around the Texarkana and upper East Texas, carrying all but 4 peripheral counties. 

However, this couldn't - and wouldn't - last. With Texas, East Texas in particular, moving further to Republicans since the 1980s, it was only a matter of time before Democrats lost this seat, with partisan redistricting accelerating these trends. Concurrently with Sandlin's re-election, Texas Republicans flipped the State House, giving them a trifecta for the first time since Reconstruction. With this trifecta and the support of then-House Majority Leader Tom Delay (TX-22), Texas Republicans passed a mid-decade redistricting plan that aimed to take out seven Democratic incumbents, Sandlin among them. The Republican strategy paid off, as in 2004, Sandlin and five other Democratic incumbents* lost in a landslide to Republican opponents. As such, the 2002 election marks not only the last time a Democrat won TX-01, but also the last time a Democrat received over 40% of the vote in the district. 

In 2016, Incumbent John Culberson (R) and James Cargas (D) faced off one final time to represent Texas' 7th Congressional district, a wealthy & highly educated district based in the Houston suburbs. The two had faced off twice before, in 2012 & 2014, with Cargas losing in a landslide both times. Unfortunately for Cargas, the third time would not be the charm, as he once again lost to Culberson. Yet, despite his win, it was the worst performance of Culberson's career thus far and marked only the second time he won by less than 20% (the other being in the blue wave year of 2008, where he won by 13.5%). Culberson's relatively poor performance looks more impressive, however, given Hillary Clinton narrowly carried the district in the concurrent presidential election (one Mitt Romney carried by over 20 points only four years prior). Clinton's win would foreshadow things to come, as the rapidly diversifying and left-trending district would boot Culberson two years later in favor of Lizzie Fletcher (D), who has represented the district since.