Dem Texas lawmaker spends night on state House floor after refusing GOP-mandated police escort

A Democratic state lawmaker spent the night on the Texas House floor, refusing a Republican-imposed police escort to prevent her and her Democratic colleagues from leaving the state again as the GOP looks to redraw congressional districts.

Democratic state Rep. Nicole Collier stayed on the House floor in the Texas Capitol on Monday night and Tuesday. The House is not set to convene again until Wednesday, when a vote on the maps is scheduled.

Collier, who represents a minority-majority district in Fort Worth, said she “refuses to sign away her dignity,” calling herself a political prisoner, FOX4 Dallas-Fort Worth reported.

Democratic lawmakers at the state Capitol said Texas Department of Public Safety officers followed them around Monday, either guarded their offices or stayed in them, and tailed them when they left. They said they had to sign “permission slips” and accept the surveillance to leave the building.

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This comes after a two-week-long standoff between Texas Republican leaders and dozens of members of the Texas House Democratic Caucus who fled the state in efforts to deny the legislature the quorum necessary to pass a President Donald Trump-backed redistricting bill, which would potentially give the GOP five additional congressional seats. 

After the Democrats fled, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republican leaders vowed not to back down and threatened to remove them from office and have them arrested.

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For their part, the AWOL Democrats pledged not to return until another Democratic state moved to “nullify” Texas’ new Republican seats. The Democrats also vowed they would not return to Texas until the special legislative session, which the governor had called to pass the redistricting bill, as well as other priorities, had ended.

The special session ended on Friday; however, Abbott called a second special session, which began immediately. The Texas Senate has already voted to pass the measure. 

Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo and The Associated Press contributed to this report.