Texas Democrat Locked In Capitol Overnight After Refusing Police Escort

Texas State Representative Nicole Collier was locked in the state Capitol overnight as she protested a Republican policy requiring Democrats to submit to police escorts amid their push for redistricting, per TIME.

“I refuse to sign away my dignity as a duly elected representative just so Republicans can control my movements and monitor me with police escorts,” Collier said Monday (August 18) before sleeping on the Texas House floor. “That is not the job I was elected to do.”

Texas Republicans imposed a rule requiring House Democrats who recently returned to the state to remain in law enforcement custody while in the Capitol building and receive written permission to leave. Collier, who was among the dozens of Texas Democrats who left the state to block a vote on the GOP-backed congressional map, rejected the requirement and chose to stay in the House chamber until the next session on Wednesday (August 20).

The proposed map could give Republicans an additional five seats in the House. Texas Democrats have argued that redistricting will suppress voters of color and is a blatant power grab orchestrated by Trump to maintain control in Washington. After weeks of legal threats and the issuance of arrest warrants, lawmakers returned to the chamber for a session that ended without a vote on the redistricting bill.

On Monday, the Texas House Democratic Caucus shared a livestream on X, formerly Twitter, of Collier spending the night on the House Floor after she refused to submit to the Republican-required police escort. Collier appeared to sleep between two chairs and was surrounded by snacks, including dried peaches, popcorn, and instant noodles.

Collier said she filed a habeas corpus petition in a Travis County court alleging “illegal confinement.”

“This is another exercise of authority and power over people of color, over people who resist,” she said. “This exercise, this requirement that we be trailed by DPS officers who could be out there fighting crime is not only a waste of taxpayer dollars, but is also offensive to the dignity of each one of us who has been elected by our constituents to come here and fight.”

Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows defended the GOP policy, saying, “Members who have not been present until today, for whom arrest warrants were issued, will be granted written permission to leave only after agreeing to be released into the custody of a designated DPS officer appointment.”

U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) called Republicans “beyond outrageous,” likening their tactics to the “Jim Crow playbook.”

“Texas Republicans have lost their damn minds,” she added.

On Tuesday (August 19), Representative Gene Wu, the chair of the Texas House Democratic Caucus, spoke with Collier after her first night spent in the Capitol.

"We need to shake things up and make some good trouble to have good change," Collier said.

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