Multiple Texas Democrats will spend night inside Texas House ahead of proposed congressional map vote
AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Five Texas House Democrats stood just outside the doors of the Texas House of Representatives Tuesday evening and ripped up the permission slips that allow them to leave the Capitol. It’s a move to protest Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows’ decision to have law enforcement escorts follow lawmakers around to ensure they arrive to the House chamber for a Wednesday vote.
Texas Democrats fled the state on Aug. 3 to prevent the House from reaching a quorum, which is the minimum number of lawmakers needed to conduct business. The drastic move was meant to raise awareness of a Republican-led effort to gerrymander the congressional maps in Texas to give Republicans an advantage to pick up five additional seats in the 2026 midterm elections.
A majority of the quorum-breaking Democrats came back to Austin on Monday to something they did not expect. Speaker Burrows said Democratic members who left the state would not be allowed to leave the House chamber on Monday until they signed a permission slip that allowed a law enforcement escort to follow them around until Wednesday.
Every Democratic member who needed to sign that slip did, except for State Rep. Nicole Collier, D-Fort Worth, who refused to sign and instead decided to stay in the House chamber until the legislative body gaveled back in at 10 a.m. Wednesday.
“I refuse to sign away my dignity as a duly elected representative just so Republicans can control my movements and monitor me with police escorts,” Collier stated in a news release.
Collier’s Democratic colleagues have been visiting her in the chamber and bringing her food and water. One of those members is State Rep. Cassandra Hernandez, D-Farmers Branch, who has a law enforcement escort herself.
“This has just been a complete drain on our state resources and unnecessary, because we do intend on being here tomorrow,” Hernandez said of the move by Speaker Burrows. She, along with Democratic representatives Rhetta Andrews Bowers, Mihaela Plesa, Senfronia Thompson, and Penny Morales Shaw ripped up their permission slips and have decided to stay overnight in the House chamber with Collier.
“We are not criminals,” Morales Shaw said to a room full of supporters and media. “We are statesmen and women. We are elected just like those people are.”
Democratic members have said their personal escort is part of a high-ranking task force within the Department of Public Safety. They believe the move is a waste of the state’s law enforcement resources, but Republican members argue there is a need for the escorts.
“They’ve already proven that they’ll leave, they won’t come back when they’re told they have a constitutional obligation to be here during the special session to get the work done of the people of Texas,” State Rep. Brent Money, R-Greenville, said.
Money said he supports the decision by the Speaker and pointed out the fact that Burrows could have locked everyone in the House chamber until they voted on congressional maps. “The House is allowed to enforce and compel their attendance in any way we choose,” Money said.
A Supreme Court of Texas ruling in 2021 confirms this. It found the Texas House does have “the authority to physically compel the attendance of absent members.”
“She decided to stay and make this a stunt instead, and that’s her prerogative. She can do that, but I have the prerogative to call it a stunt,” Money said about Collier’s decision to remain in the House chamber.
The escort requirement will end as soon as the Texas House approves a proposed map to redraw the congressional districts. The House is scheduled to vote on the proposal when it gavels in on Wednesday at 10 a.m.
