- calendar_today August 11, 2025
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Texas Democratic state Rep. Nicole Collier unexpectedly hung up on California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other Democratic leaders in a private call earlier this week after telling them she was informed it was a felony for her to join the meeting while in the Texas Capitol.
The clip, captured by Newsom and posted by New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, highlights the contentious back-and-forth in the Lone Star State as Democrats blast the latest version of Texas’s controversial redistricting bill as violating federal protections for voters.
Collier was on the call with Newsom, Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin, and other Democratic officials while the Texas House was in session, debating a Trump-backed redistricting bill. In her portion of the meeting, she made the case that the map up for debate in Texas is “really a violation” of the Voting Rights Act and that the new map would “diminish” the power of minority communities to elect their candidates of choice.
“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. “This map, this bill, as a whole, will be a detriment to the minority communities that we are supposed to be protecting and uplifting. So as I stand here in the Capitol, as the lady behind me told me, I can only be in the bathroom, as our members are in the Texas House upholding their duty in what has become their right to protest a law that is fundamentally against our voting rights as a democracy.”
About 30 minutes into the call, while Martin was speaking, Collier disconnected the call to say she had to leave. “Sorry, I have to leave. They said it’s a felony for me to do this,” Collier told the group.
She added, “Apparently, I can’t be on the floor or in the bathroom.” She then turned to an off-camera person.
“You told me I was only allowed to be here in the bathroom,” Collier said. She then turned back to the camera on her phone and said to the group, “No, hang on. Bye everybody. I’ve got to go.” She hung up after.
Newsom and the others were visibly shocked at Collier’s abrupt decision to hang up. Booker immediately responded, saying it was “outrageous.” “Let me tell you something, Rep. Collier in the bathroom has more dignity than Donald Trump in the Oval Office,” Booker said. Newsom nodded in agreement.
Booker continued, “What they’re trying to do right there is silence an American leader, silence a Black woman, and that is outrageous. 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.”
The incident was a surprise since Democrats came back to Texas after two weeks of fleeing the state in an unsuccessful attempt to block the GOP-led redistricting bill. The Democrats’ walkout, the first in 162 years, was one of the more bombastic attempts at blocking the measure, which Democrats believe will dilute the voting power of minority communities.
On their return, some Democrats said they were startled by the security detail on the Texas Capitol’s House floor. Lawmakers reported being tailed by Texas Department of Public Safety officers as they walked through the halls, sometimes having a DPS officer standing by their office or at the Capitol building doors.
Others even claimed lawmakers had to sign “permission slips” to leave the Capitol for extended periods, part of the beefed-up security designed to keep an eye on lawmakers and ensure there was a quorum present for legislative activity.
If the measure is approved as-is, it would likely add as many as five GOP congressional seats. Democrats believe that will further entrench Republicans in the state and make it harder to wrestle back control for at least a decade. So they’re fighting back with a counterplan in California: As Texas works to add congressional seats, Newsom and other California Democrats are busy trying to get rid of five GOP-held seats with a new map in their state.
In partnership with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), Newsom unveiled his new congressional map in California on Thursday, a map that Democrats believe would likely result in the loss of as many as five Republican-held congressional seats. The California map that Newsom unveiled Friday would almost entirely wipe out those GOP gains that could result from the Texas plan.
The face-off between the two states is one of the nation’s most bitter redistricting fights, with Democrats watching the changing of the guard in Congress as the next two elections come closer. Even with one seat changing hands, the calculus of a competitive race in Congress can quickly change, so each state will be fighting fiercely for each new addition.
The fight in Texas has become a rallying cry for Democrats, both nationally and from inside Texas, where they see the fight in the Texas Capitol as a national voting rights fight.
Collier’s dramatic decision to hang up on her fellow Democrats from a bathroom in the Texas Capitol will be one of the lasting images of the fight in the Texas Capitol this year.
