Democrats, Texas House of Representatives and Nicole Collier
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Democratic Texas state Rep. Nicole Collier has now spent over 24 hours on the Texas House floor in protest after refusing a Republican demand to be placed under the watch of the state Department of Public Safety.
The Capitol grounds were cleared after 7 p.m. as a demonstration against a GOP redistricting plan was about to begin. Texas lawmakers and staff members were allowed to remain inside the Capitol.
After Democrats returned to the Texas statehouse, Republican leadership assigned law enforcement officers to monitor them to prevent further delays to their plan to redraw congressional voting districts to favor Republicans ahead of the election.
The Texas State Capitol was cleared of visitors Tuesday evening and closed to the public after a social media threat, the Texas Department of Public Safety said.
Texas Republicans mandated that Democratic lawmakers not be allowed to leave the state house without a permission slip and a police escort.
State Rep. Nicole Collier can’t leave the Texas Capitol building because she won’t sign a paper agreeing to a state police escort.