AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Democratic state Rep. Nicole Collier refused to come to the Texas state Capitol for two weeks. Now she won't leave, and fellow Democrats are joining her protest.

Collier was among dozens of Democrats who left the state for the Democratic havens of California, Illinois, Massachusetts and New York to delay the Republican-controlled Legislature's approval of redrawn congressional districts sought by President Donald Trump. When they returned Monday, Republicans insisted that Democrats have around-the-clock police escorts to ensure they wouldn't leave again and scuttle Wednesday's planned House vote on a new political map.

But Collier wouldn't sign what Democrats called the “permission slip” needed to leave the House chamber, a half-page form allowing Department of Publi

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