Ten House Dems or More Broke Quorum
Without Leaving Texas Despite Threats
Capitol Inside
August 18, 2025
GOP Leaders Turn Texas House
into Jail Cell for Dem Who Won't
Sign Permission Slip for Shadow
Democratic State Rep. Nicole Collier of Fort Worth has been detained in the Texas House chamber for refusing to give the state police permission to bird-dog her around Austin and the state as payback for a two-week quorum break that torpedoed a congressional redistricting bill.
Collier was not allowed to leave the floor Monday afternoon after she declined to sign a permission slip to have "a taxpayer-funded law enforcement escort required to follow her movements throughout the entire state, 24/7," according to a statement from the House Democratic Caucus.
"My constituents sent me to Austin to protect their voices and rights," Collier said. "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. My community is majority-minority, and they expect me to stand up for their representation. When I press that button to vote, I know these maps will harm my constituents — I won't just go along quietly with their intimidation or their discrimination."
The THDC said that Republicans had the galleries on the third floor of the Capitol above the House chamber floor cleared out to ensure that members of the public could not see Collier "taking a principled stand" against the redistricting effort.
Collier was one of 25 Democrats who returned to the House on Monday after a two-week holdout that wrecked the GOP's first special session here and ignited a national movement. |
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Texas House Republicans sought to keep a tight leash on 25 Democratic colleagues who returned to the floor on Monday after breaking quorum for two weeks during which at least 10 missing members remained in the Lone Star State the entire time with little or no fear of being caught.
GOP Speaker Dustin Burrows announced that the House its first quorum since July 30 after a roll call showed 120 representatives on the floor while 30 Democrats were recorded again as absent. One of the Democrats who was missing - State Rep. Claudia Ordaz of El Paso - was reportedly unable to attend today due to medical concerns with which she's been having to deal.
But the lion's share of the Republicans were in no mood for mercy despite the Democrats' decision to let them have their vote on a congressional redistricting plan that President Donald Trump ordered them last month to approve with five more seats for the GOP. The House rejected a motion for an excused absence for Ordaz on a vote of 39-79 with eight of the GOP members voting to give the ailing colleague a break.
While a Department of Public Safety search for absent Democrats that Governor Greg Abbott and Burrows touted repeatedly proved to be an all-time bust without a single catch or nibble, Burrows appeared to give himself credit for the quorum on Monday.
"Restoring a quorum was my first responsibility as speaker - and has been accomplished," the speaker said from the dais. "Members, the House has been through a tumultuous two weeks," Burrows added. "We are done waiting. We have a quorum. Now is the time for action."
With a so-called call on the House still in effect, Burrows said the Democrats who'd been absent could not leave the chamber until they signed an agreement to be released in the custody of a DPS officer who would ensure their return when the chamber convenes again on Wednesday.
Two of the chamber's most influential Democratic members - State Reps. Toni Rose of Dallas and Gene Wu of Houston - posed for pictures with their written release forms at the back of the chamber after the House adjourned for the day.
Wu has been one of the Republicans' most popular targets for a vengeance quest as the Democratic Caucus chairman who played a key role in the walkout on a congressional map that proved to be a historic success because it bought time for California Democrats to get their own redistricting effort on the ground before it was too late. Rose wields substantial clout as the Calendars Committee vice-chair who's served on the Appropriations Committee during five terms.
Despite Burrows' assertions of manhunts, stakeouts, surveillance and door-knocking at the residences of missing Democrats and their neighbors, representatives who returned to the floor on Monday said that no law enforcement officers or other officials showed up their homes as the Republicans had promised.
While 10 House Democrats or more never left the state, several others who fled to other states on August 3 returned to Texas at some point for various reasons before leaving again if they didn't decide to stay. But Burrows said 30 Democrats who were absent on Monday are still subject to civil arrest with warrants that remain in force.
The speaker didn't elaborate on how officers plan to shadow Democrats who were released from the chamber on what is tantamount to House arrest.
more to come ...
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