Texas Democrats are joining a colleague who can't leave the state Capitol because she won't agree to having law enforcement officers shadow her.

Republican lawmakers are expected to quickly pass new voting maps, but Democrats still say they were victorious in the standoff.

Texas state Rep. Nicole Collier was told she was not free to leave the building after refusing to sign a permission slip requiring a 24-hour police escort.

SMU political science professor Matthew Wilson explains the rarely enforced rules being applied during this second special session of the legislature.

Democratic Texas state Rep. Nicole Collier spent the night on the Texas House floor in protest after refusing a Republican demand to be placed under the watch of the state Department of Public Safety.

A person holds a sign, as protesters begin lining the area near the House chamber before a session as Democratic lawmakers, who left the state to deny Republicans the opportunity to redraw the state's 38 congressional districts, begin returning to the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas, U.S. August 18, 2025. REUTERS/Sergio Flores

Democratic lawmakers who fled their state to stymie Republican plans to redraw political maps at the behest of President Donald Trump announced on Monday they were "returning to Texas on our terms," as the battle lines harden 15 months before the U.

"It's imperative at this moment to use every tool that we have to fight back," Isaiah Martin, a candidate running in Texas's 18th congressional district.