Texas lawmaker prepares for second night of redistricting protest in state Capitol

By Gerardo Gomez

Aug 19 (Reuters) - Democratic state Representative Nicole Collier hunkered down for a second night in the Texas Capitol building rather than accept a mandatory police escort in a redistricting battle as President Donald Trump seeks to keep Republican control of Congress.

This time she expects to have a bit more company.

Collier was one of more than 50 Democrats from the Texas House of Representatives who left the state in a two-week walkout to deny Republicans the legislative quorum needed to approve new congressional district maps drawn at Trump's behest.

After the Democrats returned on Monday, they faced new rules by the Republican leadership, requiring each to stay put in the Capitol, unless they agreed to be placed in custody of a state police officer to monitor their movements.

Republicans said the signed permission slips were designed to ensure the Democrats' presence when Republican leaders gavel in a second special session on Wednesday to pursue the unfinished business of redistricting.

Democrats called the crackdown unjustified.

Collier, in her seventh two-year term representing Fort Worth, refused to agree to a police monitor, remaining in the Capitol building in protest.

"What matters to me is making sure that I resist and fight back against and push back," Collier told Reuters from the Capitol in an interview on Monday.

CBS News reported that Collier's lawyers filed a court petition against the Republicans' crackdown, saying the threat of civil arrest for leaving the Capitol amounted to "illegal confinement."

Collier posted a picture of herself on X on Tuesday sleeping on a chair with a blanket and the caption, "This was my night, bonnet and all, in the #txlege."

CNN said Texas State Representatives Gene Wu and Vince Perez, also Democrats, joined her in solidarity overnight, bringing snacks of dried fruit, ramen and popcorn.

On Tuesday, Collier said several more of her Democratic colleagues had torn up their permission slips and would join her for a second overnight protest in the Capitol.

About two dozen supporters staged a boisterous but peaceful protest in the Capitol, chanting and carrying signs outside the House chamber where Collier remained sequestered.

PLANS TO FLIP FIVE SEATS

The proposed redrawing of Texas congressional districts aims to help Republicans pick up five seats from Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives in the November 2026 midterm elections.

Republicans now hold a slim 219-212 majority in the U.S. House, with the balance between the two parties expected to be closely fought.

The Texas Democrats said their walkout, while merely delaying the action they sought to thwart, gave their party time to organize a counter-measure, led by California Governor Gavin Newsom, to advance its own redistricting plan.

Newsom has called California's effort, designed to pick up five new Democratic seats in the U.S. House, the “Election Rigging Response Act.”

Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows, a Republican, accused Collier and other Democrats of shirking their duty as lawmakers, delaying other important business besides redistricting.

After Monday's session, Collier stood alone in the center of the chamber in Austin, the state capital, making telephone calls and doing interviews amid a sea of empty seats.

Wu, the Democratic leader of the Texas House, has said the current congressional districts already dilute the voting power of the state's racial minorities, and the new redistricting plan represented "turbocharged racism."

On Fox News, Abbott called Wu's accusation "bogus," saying redistricting would create more Hispanic-majority districts. He said it was also necessary to give Trump voters in Democrat-majority districts the ability to elect Republicans.

In a statement on Monday, Collier, a former chair of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus, said, "My community is majority-minority, and they expect me to stand up for their representation."