Texas Democrat sleeps in House chamber in protest of GOP police escort

A Democratic lawmaker has vowed to stay in the Texas Capitol rather than accept an around-the-clock police escort that Republicans imposed to keep her and her colleagues from leaving the state again and further delaying the GOP’s redrawing of congressional districts as President Donald Trump wants.

State Rep. Nicole Collier of Fort Worth said in an interview Tuesday she would sleep on the House floor until Labour Day if she had to, reports NBC News. As of Tuesday afternoon, she’s remained in the room for more than 24 hours.

It’s a further act of resistance from Collier, who joined dozens of Texas Democrats in a two-week walkout after Democrats in California heeded Gov. Gavin Newsom’s call to counter the GOP effort in Texas by redrawing districts there.

And while the walk-out ended Monday, Collier vowed to sleep on the House floor, refusing to sign what Democratic lawmakers are calling “permission slips” to leave the building and accept around-the-clock surveillance.

Collier described it as an attack on her dignity and an effort to control her movements.

“I don’t want to bring that into my neighbourhood. I don’t need to add any more law enforcement in areas that are already over-policed,” Collier told The Washington Post on Monday evening as she prepared to spend the night. “My community has sent me here to be a fighter, and this is the way that I am fighting.”

“They’re taking away our vote,” Collier added, referring to the GOP’s redistricting plan. “I’m not going to let them take away my voice.”

Republicans are trying to prevent a repeat of the boycott that denied the House enough members to meet and prevented it from doing any business. Dozens of lawmakers fled to Democratic-led states, including California, Illinois and Massachusetts, to stay out of the reach of Texas law enforcement officers trying to bring them back.

Collier told The Washington Post that legislative staffers offered to leave a Capitol bathroom unlocked for her and that her colleagues were bringing her food. She said she was allowed to visit her office with a police escort.

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.

Early Tuesday morning, she shared a photo to X, claiming she spent the night sleeping upright in a chair on the House floor, complete with a bonnet, eye mask and several blankets and pillows.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Collier remained in the room, and continued to livestream her protest on X.

“At what point, what is it going to take for us to say ‘enough is enough?’ Yesterday was my moment. Enough is enough,” Collier said in an interview Tuesday with NBC News, as someone brought out a mattress for her to sleep on during her second night of protest.

“I see it. The writing is on the wall. They want power at all costs. And you’re not taking it from me without a fight.”

According to The Washington Post, Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R), who ordered the Democratic lawmakers to be monitored by police if they left the state Capitol, was indifferent to Collier’s protest.

“Rep. Collier’s choice to stay and not sign the permission slip is well within her rights under the House Rules. I am choosing to spend my time focused 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,” Burrows said in a statement, referring to standardized tests for Texas students.

Both Trump and the Democrats are looking ahead to the 2026 midterms knowing that they often go against the president’s party, as they did during Trump’s first term in 2018. Republicans currently have a seven-seat majority in the 435-member House.

State legislatures draw the lines after each U.S. census in most states — including Texas — and only a few dozen House districts are competitive.

In Texas, Republicans hold 25 of 38 seats, and they’re trying to increase that to 30. In California, Democrats have 43 of the 52 seats, and they’re trying to boost that to 48, to wipe out the advantage the GOP would gain from redrawing lines in Texas.

In some ways, the nation’s most populous state, California, is a reverse-mirror image of the nation’s second-most populous state, Texas. Democrats are even more firmly in control of state government there than Republicans are in Texas, with Democratic supermajorities in both California legislative chambers.

But California’s districts were drawn by an independent commission created by a statewide vote in 2008 after years of intense partisan battles over redistricting.

Democrats are trying to avoid legal challenges to a new map by asking voters to approve it as an exception to the normal process, which would require a special election in November. Texas has no such commission, so its legislature doesn’t have to seek voters’ approval for its maps.

California lawmakers returned Monday to the state capital from a summer break. They are scheduled to remain in session through Sept. 12.

California Democrats are expected to advance their proposal out of committees Tuesday and Wednesday. They have already received more than 13,000 public comments through an online portal, and the committee hearings offer the public a chance to provide feedback to lawmakers in person.

Dozens of residents from up and down the state, leaders of local Republican groups and the conservative California Family Council showed up to a hearing Tuesday to voice opposition to the Democrats’ plan.

Some said the process has been shrouded in secrecy because the map was drawn without meaningful public input. Others said they would rather lawmakers focus on addressing issues instead of trying to bypass a bipartisan redistricting process.

— With files from The Associated Press