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Connecticut is divided among five congressional districts from which citizens elect the state's representatives to the United States House of Representatives. After the re-apportionment following the 2000 census, Connecticut lost one representative, reducing the state's delegation from six to five. The redistricting process was shared between the Republican governor at the time, John G. Rowland, and the Democratic-controlled General Assembly. Before the census, the state's House delegation was split evenly between Republicans and Democrats, and the solution finally agreed upon by the redistricting committee would ensure an even match-up between incumbents, the 6th district's Nancy L. Johnson, a Republican, and the 5th district's James H. Maloney, a Democrat. In the 2002 elections, Johnson defeated Maloney by a surprisingly large margin in the new 5th district.
Since the 2008 elections, all five of Connecticut's representatives are Democrats. Christopher Shays, previously the only Republican in the state's congressional delegation, lost his re-election bid in 2008.