- calendar_today August 11, 2025
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Texas Democratic state Rep. Nicole Collier suddenly left a private call with California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other Democratic leaders this week after she said she was told it was a felony for her to be on the call while at the Texas Capitol. The move, which was caught on camera, came as both parties have been pushing back against a high-stakes redistricting fight in Texas.
Collier, who was on the video call with Newsom, Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin, and others, made the remarks during the ongoing debate of a Texas redistricting bill on the floor of the House of Representatives on Wednesday in Austin. Trump had lobbied for the map. The House was debating the bill as Collier was also on a call with Newsom and other Democratic leaders.
The Democrats were discussing the ramifications of the Texas redistricting bill, which Democrats say violates federal voting protections. Collier, who was on the call via video, criticized the map, saying the bill violated the Voting Rights Act.
“This bill will prevent Black and brown individuals from selecting the candidates of their choice because they’re cracking and packing these districts,” Collier said. (Cracking and packing districts is the practice of dividing or consolidating voting blocs of a specific ethnicity, race, or party into a voting district.)
Collier, who was discussing the implications of the Texas bill, left the call 30 minutes in as Martin was speaking. “Sorry, I have to leave. They said it’s a felony for me to do this,” she told the group before apologizing again. “I can’t be on the floor or in the bathroom,” she continued as she addressed someone out of camera view.
“You told me I was only allowed to be here in the bathroom,” Collier said to the unidentified person. When she returned to the call, she finished by saying, “No, hang on. Bye everybody. I’ve got to go,” and disconnected.
Her quick exit left the group in shock. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker was the first to weigh in on the video of the call. “That’s outrageous,” Booker said. “Rep. Collier in the bathroom has more dignity than Donald Trump in the Oval Office,” he added, before New Jersey Democratic Sen. Booker told California Democratic Gov. Newsom, who was also on the call, “Dang right.” Booker added, “What they’re trying to do right there is silence an American leader, silence a Black woman, and that is outrageous.” He continued, “What we just witnessed, them trying to shut her down and saying it’s illegal for her to be in the bathroom and on this call, this is the lengths that they’re going to in Texas.”
TEXAS AND CALIFORNIA LOCKED IN REDISTRICTING WARS
The developments come after Texas Democrats fled the state for two weeks in an attempt to break quorum so that Republicans would not be able to pass their version of a redistricting bill through the Legislature. The move came after months of political wrangling over a voting rights bill. Since the chambers of the Texas Legislature are not allowed to meet without both bodies present, Democrats left Texas for nearly two weeks in an attempt to stop the passage of the voting bill.
Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republicans have ordered Texas House Democrats arrested when they return to the state and have threatened to remove from office those who participate in the boycott. Texas House Democrats who have refused to return to the state have remained defiant even after Texas Rangers were sent to track them down.
Members of the Texas House who returned to the state Capitol in Austin said that their movements had been heavily restricted. Some members of the state legislature said that DPS troopers had been following them around. According to reports, members of the state legislature said they had to sign “permission slips” to leave the Capitol. The troopers were put in place to make sure there was a quorum and both houses of the Legislature were in session before members were allowed to leave the building.
The Texas bill could add as many as five GOP congressional seats, a move Democrats say will entrench Republican power in the state for the next decade. California Democrats have countered the move by announcing their redistricting plan. The plan that Newsom unveiled with the DCCC would essentially nullify Texas’s GOP gains in the House of Representatives.
The new congressional map, which was released Friday, would likely erase five GOP seats in the Golden State.
The tensions between the two states have become the latest proxy battle in national redistricting fights. The Texas map would only directly affect Texas’s 38 congressional districts, but congressional control is up for grabs in both Texas and California as both parties seek to capture Congress in the upcoming elections. As a result, Democrats have been using the Texas fight as a rallying cry against the new districts.
Collier was unreachable for comment as the Texas House was still in session at the time of this report.




