Texas state Rep. Nicole Collier on staying in statehouse
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State Rep. Nicole Collier can’t leave the Texas Capitol building because she won’t sign a paper agreeing to a state police escort.
A compilation of livestreams of the House chamber posted by the House Democratic Caucus and Collier have captured much of her time locked in, earning tens of thousands of views. Though they are able to leave, she was joined overnight by Rep. Gene Wu, a Houston Democrat, who chairs the caucus and Rep. Vince Perez, an El Paso Democrat.
Other Texas Democrats, including from DFW, joined Rep. Nicole Collier after they tore up their “permission slips” to leave the chamber.
The standoff began on Monday, when Democratic members returned to the Capitol after being out of the state for more than two weeks due to a controversial redistricting map. Rep. Collier refused to agree to leave the chamber under the surveillance of the Department of Public Safety.
Rep. Nicole Collier is asking a Travis County district judge to rule that she’s allowed to leave the Texas Capitol. The Fort Worth Democrat has been confined to Texas Capitol since Monday after refusing to sign a “permission slip” turning her over to Texas Department of Public Safety custody for monitoring.
Fort Worth, has been an outspoken critic of the redistricting maps, which she argues dilute minority voting power.