Democratic Texas state Rep. Nicole Collier is spending 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.

State Rep. Nicole Collier said she would not fall in line with the GOP House speaker's requirement that Democratic lawmakers be surveilled by state troopers.

Dozens of Democrats are returning to Texas, ending a two-week impasse with Texas Republicans over efforts to redistrict the state.

Democratic leaders say they will return for a second special legislative session after seeing California Democratic leaders proceed with plans to redraw their own U.S. House maps.

The chairman of the state Democratic Party said the lawmakers “are coming back to fight these racist maps in the legislature and then in the courts.”