Several Texas state House Democrats ripped up the written agreements that allowed them to leave the chamber with a police escort and returned to the House floor.
The politicians will spend the night on the House floor with state Rep. Nicole Collier, who has stayed in the chamber for more than 24 hours after declining to sign the “permission slip” to leave.
House Republicans announced the requirement on Monday when Democrats, who faced civil arrest warrants for leaving the state during a special session, returned from their 15-day quorum break.
The Democrats fled the state earlier this month to prevent a vote on a controversial redistricting plan pushed for by President Donald Trump that could potentially eliminate five Democratic US House seats.
“Who’s ready to tear up this slip?” state Rep. Mihaela Plesa said today as she tore through the agreement in front of the doors to the House chamber.
State Rep. Penny Morales Shaw said after returning to the Houston area under police escort, she realised it was a mistake to enter into the agreement, arguing she is now “correcting course.”
“Yesterday, I left in custody and I came back in custody, because I stand with Nicole Collier and Gene Wu,” she said.
“This is illegitimate, this is a wrongful use of power, and I will not condone it, and I don’t want to be a part of setting a very bad and low precedent for future legislators.”
State Rep. Gene Wu, who leads Texas Democrats in the House, has accompanied Collier on the chamber floor for most of the past day.
“This is a civil discussion and disagreement, and in order to win, the other side is willing to use force — to use the arms of a state to get what they want. Good guys don’t do that,” Wu told CNN’s Pamela Brown.
Plesa and Morales Shaw were joined by state Reps. Rhetta Bowers, Cassandra Garcia Hernandez and Senfronia Thompson.
Other Democrats could return to the House floor in the coming hours.
“Why would we be considered a flight risk if we walked in of our own volition?” Bowers said.
“This is a blatant violation of our freedoms as Texans, as Americans and as duly elected officials.”
Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows said Monday the Democrats could leave the House floor only if they received written permission and agreed to be under a Department of Public Safety officer’s escort until the chamber reconvenes on Wednesday morning.
All Democrats who were present agreed at the time — except for Collier.
“Rep. Collier’s choice to stay and not sign the permission slip is well within her rights under the House Rules,” Burrows said in a statement earlier today.
The Republican House speaker said he is “choosing to spend my time focused on” important legislation. CNN has reached out to the speaker’s office for comment.
While the protest move draws more attention to their redistricting fight, Texas House Democrats have little to no legislative options available to prevent the new congressional maps from being passed.
The Texas House is aiming to vote on the measure after it reconvenes tomorrow, but the timing for final passage remains unclear.
Meanwhile, former Vice President Kamala Harris called Collier to offer her support today, the Texas representative said.
“Just moments ago, I got a call from Vice President Kamala Harris,” Collier told CNN’s Dana Bash as she spoke from the House floor.
“She said, ‘Keep going.’ She said, ‘Don’t give up. Stand strong. Stand tall, and don’t back down.'”
The former vice president called to check in on Collier and encourage her to continue pushing for what’s right even if she’s doing it on her own, an aide to Harris said.
“Know that we’re in the rooms with you no matter what. And you have our support,” Harris said, according to the aide.
Collier criticised Texas Republicans for the restrictions on their movements, calling them “un-American” and “not right.”
And she defended the efforts of Texas Democrats to stall the partisan redistricting push, saying that “we have exercised our constitutional right to deny a quorum. And there’s nothing illegal about it.”