The situation is an opportunity for the speaker to bolster his credibility with the right, but he has limited tools to combat a prolonged Democratic absence.

Texas House Democrat Nicole Collier spent the night at the state's Capitol, which she live streamed, after refusing to sign a pledge that she would return for a vote on redistricting. Her protest came after House Speaker Dustin Burrows announced that the Texas Democrats would not be allowed to leave the chambers until they signed a document promising to show up the following morning and that they would be forced to have police escorts back and forth.

Rep. Nicole Collier has been in the House for more than 10 hours Monday after she has refused to have a Texas state law enforcement officer shadow her if

The gambit has triggered a national redistricting war, with governors of both parties threatening to initiate similar efforts in other states.

House Speaker said he expected the missing members to return by Monday to resume work on redistricting, THC rules and flood responses.

Upon returning after a 15-day walkout, Texas House Democrats were asked for consent to be escorted off the floor by DPS officers. Nicole Collier refused and was locked in the chamber Monday night.

After two weeks fleeing the state, many Texas House Democrats returned, and a quorum was reached on Monday. More than two dozen Democrats still didn’t show up and civil arrest warrants remain in effect.

Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows is warning that any absent lawmakers found this weekend will be arrested and brought back to Austin for the start of the seco

State Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, holds a press conference in the Speaker’s Committee Room on Saturday saying he has the votes to become Texas House speaker in the upcoming legislative session.

Burrows worked as an attorney before he was first elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 2014, taking the seat from current Republican Senator Charles Perry of Lubbock.

A Fort Worth lawmaker’s sit-in on the Texas House floor attracted fellow Democrats to her side at the Capitol on Tuesday as her protest of congressional redistricting entered its second day. Twenty-four hours earlier,