Democratic Texas state Rep. Nicole Collier from Fort Worth made headlines on Monday after staging an overnight protest on the Texas House floor, responding to a GOP demand that she be placed under watch by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Republican House Speaker Dustin Burrows targeted Collier and several other Texas House Democrats after they returned to the Capitol in Austin on Monday. The lawmakers fled the state earlier this month to break quorum and block a vote on a GOP-led redistricting plan that could help Republicans maintain control of Congress in the upcoming midterm elections, CNN and Blavity reported.
More than 50 Democrats fled to blue states like Illinois, New York and Massachusetts. They faced civil arrest warrants backed by the GOP to ensure they would return to meet quorum and attend a special session to approve the redrawn congressional maps for state districts, per CNN.
Burrows gave Democrats limited options: They could only leave the Texas House floor with written permission or be escorted by state troopers and monitored around the clock until the chamber reconvened Wednesday morning.
What did Collier say about a DPS escort?
Republican Rep. Charlie Geren, who also represents Fort Worth and chairs the House Administration Committee, met with Collier after her return. When she refused to sign the required form, it prompted the DPS escort. Geren said she could stay on the House floor or in her office but was not permitted to leave the Capitol grounds without law enforcement, according to KERA News.
On Monday night, Collier was the only lawmaker who remained behind after the day’s business concluded. She criticized the DPS for focusing on political enforcement rather than addressing critical public safety issues.
“I don’t know how long I will be here,” she wrote in a statement to the Fort Worth Report. “Instead of DPS officers looking for pedophiles, they have been assigned to follow Democratic state representatives around only to ensure their return to the Capitol on Wednesday (when the House reconvenes). I sure hope the public feels safe without those officers on beat.”
Republicans called out Texas House Democrats
Several Democrats had checked on Collier throughout the night, took photographs of her, and sent them to local news outlets who were not permitted to enter the chamber. Fellow Tarrant Democratic Rep. Ramon Romero of Fort Worth spoke on the Democrats’ attempt to “slow” the process, but it would be something they could not halt.
“We knew that this was something we were not going to be able to stop,” Romero said. “We could slow it down, though, and that’s exactly what we did.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton went as far as calling for the Democrats to be ousted from office after going against their constitutional duties.
“The rogue Democrat legislators who fled the state have abandoned their duties, leaving their seats vacant,” Paxton said in an Aug. 8 statement. “These cowards deliberately sabotaged the constitutional process and violated the oath they swore to uphold.”
Blavity reported that the GOP’s proposed congressional map would eliminate Democratic constituencies in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio and shift incumbent Democrats into Republican-leaning districts.
