Texas State Representative Nicole Collier has emerged as a key figure in the state’s ongoing electoral map controversy.

A Democratic state lawmaker who fled Texas in protest of a GOP redistricting effort is asking a court to let her exit the Capitol, after she was told she needs a police escort to leave the building.

Texas Republicans mandated that Democratic lawmakers not be allowed to leave the state house without a permission slip and a police escort.

The Texas State Capitol was cleared of visitors Tuesday evening and closed to the public after a social media threat, the Texas Department of Public Safety said.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris personally reached out to Texas State Rep. Nicole Collier as she continued to be confined inside the state Capitol after refusing a demand from the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives to sign a permission ...