Tempers flared and tensions ran high at the Texas State Capitol this week, as a standoff over redistricting rules escalated into an overnight protest, a public evacuation, and a fierce debate about legislative power and civil rights. At the heart of it all was Democratic State Representative Nicole Collier, who refused to comply with Republican-imposed attendance rules requiring police escorts for lawmakers who had previously broken quorum. Her act of defiance inspired colleagues, drew national attention, and cast a spotlight on the broader battle over congressional maps in Texas and beyond.
The drama began in earnest on August 18, 2025, when Rep. Collier, who represents a minority-majority district in Fort Worth, declined to sign what she described as a demeaning “permission slip.” This form, mandated by Republican leadership, required absent Democratic lawmakers to pledge not to leave again and to accept around-the-clock monitoring by Department of Public Safety (DPS) officers if they wished to move about the Capitol. Collier, undeterred, stayed overnight in the House chamber, sleeping on leather chairs and livestreaming her protest to supporters across the country. “I feel like that is an invasion of my rights as a person and it is dehumanizing and demeaning and I just won't take it,” Collier told The Texas Newsroom. “I won't agree to it.”
She was not alone for long. Reps. Gene Wu of Houston and Vincent Perez of El Paso, though they had accepted the escort rules, joined Collier overnight in a show of solidarity. As the trio settled in for the night, protesters gathered outside the chamber, their frustration palpable. An Instagram video showed four people being detained by police, with State Senator Molly Cook of Houston kneeling beside them. “I'm moved by the public's response to this,” Cook told The Texas Newsroom. "I disagree with the authoritarian move to use law enforcement against elected officials, especially when they are here and they are complying."
By Tuesday, August 19, the protest had grown. Other Democratic lawmakers, including Reps. Penny Morales Shaw, Rhetta Andrews Bowers, Cassandra Hernandez, and Mihaela Plesa, publicly joined Collier in rejecting the escort requirement. Some tore up their permission slips outside the House chamber, making a point of their opposition in front of reporters. “We’re not criminals,” said Rep. Penny Morales Shaw at a press conference, echoing a sentiment shared by many of her colleagues.
The Republicans’ rationale for the strict attendance rules was clear: prevent a repeat of the two-week Democratic walkout that had denied the House a quorum and stalled legislative business. During that walkout, dozens of Democrats fled to other states, out of reach of Texas law enforcement, to block a vote on a redistricting plan that would add up to five Republican-held congressional seats in Texas. With Democrats back in Austin, Republican leaders wasted no time imposing new conditions, hoping to ensure the redistricting vote could finally proceed.
But the Democrats’ protest was about more than just process. They argued that the proposed redistricting plan, championed by Republicans and supported by former President Donald Trump, would dilute the voting power of minority communities and entrench GOP dominance in the state’s congressional delegation. Republicans currently hold 25 of Texas’s 38 congressional seats and are aiming to boost that number to 30 through the new maps. “My constituents elected me to be a fighter,” Collier said. “It only takes one person to start the fire, to spark the fire.”
As the standoff intensified, the Texas Department of Public Safety announced that the Capitol would be cleared of visitors and closed to the public around 6:30 p.m. on August 19. The move came after a social media threat called for violence against lawmakers who would not allow others to leave. “In that message, the individual calls on others to go to the Capitol building and take action by shooting and killing those who will not allow lawmakers to leave,” the department stated, according to ABC News. The Capitol remained closed for the rest of the day while authorities worked to identify the person responsible. Inside, Democratic House members stayed put, surrounded by state troopers and determined to continue their protest.
Throughout the ordeal, Collier continued to speak out. “Look, I'm not a criminal. I've exercised my right, and I am tired of the government controlling our movement, and so this is nothing more than the government exercising its control over people who exercise their constitutional rights to resist,” she told ABC News. While she expressed no animosity toward the DPS officers themselves, Collier was unequivocal in her criticism of the Republican leadership’s directive. “I'm tired of being pushed around and told what to do when I disagree with the actions of our government,” she said. “You don't have to do this. You don't have to dig in deeper into the harm that you're doing. You are going to get what you want. This is just petty and unnecessary, and I don't think that it is fair. It's demeaning to me as a person and to my community, and I just won't take it.”
Support for Collier poured in from across the country, including a personal phone call from former Vice President Kamala Harris on August 19. “Know that we’re in the rooms with you no matter what. And you have our support,” Harris told Collier, according to a representative for the former vice president. House Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Gene Wu, who had signed the escort waiver but spent the night in the chamber with Collier and Perez, posted on X (formerly Twitter) that the Democrats were engaged in "#goodtrouble," referencing the late Rep. John Lewis. “We know this is a #riggedredistricting process. Democrats are not giving up!” he wrote.
Republican leaders, for their part, maintained that the rules were within the bounds of House procedure. House Speaker Dustin Burrows stated on August 19, “Rep. Collier's choice to stay and not sign the permission slip is well within her rights under the House Rules.” Burrows added that his focus was on “moving the important legislation on the call to overhaul camp safety, provide property tax reform and eliminate the STAAR test – the results Texans care about.”
With the quorum restored, the Republican-controlled Legislature was expected to move swiftly on the redistricting bill, which had passed out of committee on August 18 and was scheduled for consideration on the House floor on August 20. Collier predicted that the law enforcement monitoring would end as soon as the maps were passed. “Once they get what they want — which is the maps, the congressional maps — they will remove the call on the House,” she said. “That, apparently, is their priority.”
Meanwhile, the redistricting fight in Texas resonated far beyond the Lone Star State. In California, Democrats advanced their own proposal to redraw congressional districts, hoping to counterbalance Republican gains in Texas. California’s process, however, is more complicated, involving an independent commission and the possibility of a special election for voter approval.
As the dust settles, the Texas redistricting saga has laid bare the fierce partisan battles that define American politics today. Lawmakers on both sides are digging in, convinced that the stakes—for democracy, for representation, for the future of their states—couldn’t be higher.
