Cory Booker and Gavin Newsom Slam Felony Threat Against Texas Lawmaker, Nicole Collier
Nicole Collier, a Texas Democratic lawmaker, abruptly left a call with national party leaders on Wednesday after being warned she could be committing a felony.
“Sorry, I have to leave,” State Rep. Collier (D) said during the call with Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin and others, including Sen. Corey Booker and California Governor Gavin Newsom. “They said it’s a felony for me to do this. Apparently I can’t be on the floor or in a bathroom.”
She then addressed someone out of view of the camera: “You told me I was only allowed to be here in the bathroom. No, hold on—bye everybody, I’ve got to go.”
Collier, a seven-term legislator and former chair of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus, joined the call from inside the Texas Capitol as the House advanced a Republican-drawn map. Democrats left the state in protest but returned earlier this month.
House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R) said members could only leave and reenter the Capitol if they agreed to be placed in the custody of a designated Department of Public Safety officer and signed a pledge to return. Collier refused those conditions and has slept inside the Capitol in protest, drawing national attention.
“At the moment that the directive was issued, I felt like it was wrong. It’s just wrong to require grown people to get a permission slip to roam about freely,” Collier said in an interview with MSNBC. “So I resisted. I objected, in the only way I knew how, and that’s to resist.”
It’s unclear what specific action might have constituted a felony, but the warning sparked immediate anger from Democrats on the call.
“That is outrageous. What they’re trying to do right there, is silence an American leader, silence a Black woman and that is outrageous,” said Sen. Booker.
Ken Martin, chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), confirmed the incident in a post on X, writing: “Rep. Collier joined us from the TX Capitol. She was ordered to leave the call, and threatened with a felony charge if she didn’t comply. This is an outrageous violation of her freedom of speech.”
