Hours after federal judges blocked Texas from using a newly drawn Congressional map, state leaders filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has set the date for the runoff election to fill late U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner’s seat in Congress.

Acting Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee and former Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards are competing for the congressional seat, which has been vacant since the March death of U.S. Rep.

After leaders in four member cities scheduled elections to consider leaving DART next May, a fifth North Texas town may join the ranks.

A federal court dealt a major blow on Tuesday to Republicans’ hopes of picking up five new GOP seats in Congress next year in Texas, ruling that the party’s redraw was unconstitutional. But the decision was far from the last word on the case.

Republicans hope the U.S. Supreme Court will overrule a three-judge panel and bring the new map back into play, but the deadline for candidates to file is less than three weeks away, Dec. 8.

Texas officials preparing for elections under new congressional maps must quickly reverse course because of a federal court order blocking the use of the maps.