Two more candidates have announced their campaign for Texas House of Representatives District 71. Taylor County rancher Liz Case and former Abilene city councilmember and businessman Jay Hardaway went public with their campaigns Friday morning,

The Texas Senate is reconvening Friday morning to take up a controversial GOP redistricting bill that triggered a weeks-long House standoff. The Republican-backed proposal, which passed the House in an 88-52 party-line vote on Wednesday, aims to redraw the state's congressional map and produce five new GOP-leaning districts.

AUSTIN - Texas House Republicans approved a new Congressional District Map. Democrats delayed the inevitable, but the clock ran out. Now that it's out of the lower chamber, the new map will be taken up by the Senate today. It passed the house 88-52 on Wednesday. The new congressional map would give Republicans five new seats in Congress.

House Speaker Dustin Burrows said Monday that Democrats who previously left the state could not leave the chamber unless they agreed to having a DPS escort. Collier refused one and must remain in the chamber.

Texas Republicans mandated that Democratic lawmakers not be allowed to leave the state house without a permission slip and a police escort.