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Texas state Rep. Nicole Collier abruptly disconnected from a private call with California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other Democratic leaders this week, after being told it was a felony to join the meeting while on the premises of the Texas Capitol. The drama, which occurred as Democrats attempted to fight Texas’s controversial redistricting bill, which they say violates federal voting rights protections, was captured on video.

Collier joined Newsom, Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin, and other Democrats on the call via video while the Texas House of Representatives debated a redistricting proposal supported by former President Donald Trump. During her comments on the call, Collier said that the proposed map violates the Voting Rights Act and would hurt the ability of minority communities to elect candidates of their choice.

“This bill will prevent Black and brown individuals from selecting the candidates of their choice because they’re cracking and packing these districts,” Collier said.

About 30 minutes into the call, while Martin was speaking, Collier suddenly disconnected to say that she had to leave. “Sorry, I have to leave. They said it’s a felony for me to do this,” Collier told the group.

She added, “Apparently, I can’t be on the floor or in the bathroom,” before walking off camera and talking to someone out of shot.

“You told me I was only allowed to be here in the bathroom,” Collier said to the individual. Addressing the group again, she said, “No, hang on. Bye everybody. I’ve got to go.” With that, she hung up.

The abrupt move caught the group off guard, with New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker immediately lambasting those who had made such a threat. “This is outrageous,” Booker said, heaping praise on Collier. “Let me tell you something, Rep. Collier in the bathroom has more dignity than Donald Trump in the Oval Office.”

Newsom gave a quick thumbs-up in agreement. Booker then leaned in, contorting his fingers toward the camera to hammer home his point.

“What they’re trying to do right there is silence an American leader, silence a Black woman, and that is outrageous,” he continued. “What we just witnessed, them trying to shut her down and saying it’s illegal for her to be in the bathroom and on this call, this is the lengths that they’re going to in Texas.”

TX, CA Clashing Over Redistricting Efforts

The showdown came at the end of what has been one of the most intense redistricting fights in the nation. In a high-profile move, dozens of Texas House Democrats left the state for two weeks in a failed effort to deny Republicans a quorum in order to stall the bill. After the walkout, Gov. Greg Abbott and other GOP officials ordered the lawmakers to be arrested and threatened to oust them from office if they did not return.

The Democrats returned to Austin under pressure, with reports from those members upon their return saying that Texas Department of Public Safety troopers were assigned to follow members, sometimes guarding offices or tailing them through hallways. Some lawmakers said they were even asked to sign “permission slips” to leave the Capitol under new security protocols that were being enforced to make sure the quorum was maintained.

The Texas legislation, which is one of the most gerrymandered in the state’s history, could add as many as five Republican congressional seats in the state, according to Democrats who say that the move would codify a GOP stronghold on the state for the next decade.

To combat that, California Democrats have now unveiled their redistricting efforts, with Newsom and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) jointly announcing a new California congressional map that would likely eliminate five Republican seats, matching what GOP lawmakers may have added in Texas.

The California map was released on Friday. It’s a visual representation of how California Democrats plan to redraw representation on the West Coast in a way that would nullify the Republican gains made on the ground in Texas.

In recent days, Booker and Newsom have sought to tie Texas Republicans to national voting issues, and the high-profile nature of this fight, because both parties are poised to go after Congress in a midterm election year in which control of the chamber is at stake.

Republicans hold the majority in the U.S. House at this point, but several recent polls indicate that there is a clear national shift in support of Democrats to take that chamber. Every newly redrawn district is a key in that fight. In Texas, Democrats have turned the fight into a symbol of their larger concerns about voting rights in Texas and their battle to stop it.

For now, Collier’s abrupt hang-up remains one of the more remarkable images in the drama: a lawmaker with her own party’s leadership being forced to hang up on them from a state Capitol bathroom while being told she was in danger of committing a crime.