Texas Democrats shadowed by law enforcement officers to stop them repeating protest over redrawing congressional districts – US politics live | US politics
Published: 2025-08-19 11:34:06 | Views: 9
Key events
A Florida man who fatally stabbed a friend during an argument in 2022 over Donald Trump’s businesses having gone bankrupt, is facing possibly spending the rest of his life in prison after being convicted of murder.
Donald Jamesbrown Henry, 38, awaits a sentencing hearing tentatively scheduled for October after jurors found him guilty Friday of second-degree murder in the killing of Shawn Popp, whose death came to be regarded by some as an example of the havoc that politics can wreak on interpersonal relationships in the US.
Henry’s conviction, under Florida law, requires him to serve at least 16 years and nine months in prison without the possibility of parole. The state’s maximum punishment for second-degree murder is life imprisonment.
Read the full story here:
Hurricane Erin is forcing evacuations on North Carolina’s Outer Banks as it threatens to whip up wild waves and tropical force winds. Forecasters say the monster storm will turn away from the eastern U.S. and won’t make landfall, but they predict it will churn up dangerous rip currents along North Carolina’s barrier islands and could swamp roads with waves of up to 15 feet.
Coastal flooding is expected to begin today and continue through Thursday on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Erin was a Category 3 hurricane with 115 mph winds early Tuesday.
Cars lined up to evacuate via ferry from Ocracoke Island to Hatteras Island, North Carolina on Monday, due to the expected impact of Hurricane Erin. Photograph: AP
Texas Democrats shadowed by law enforcement officers to stop them repeating protests
Good morning and welcome to the US politics live blog. My name is Matthew Pearce and I’ll be bringing you all the latest news over the next few hours.
We begin with news that Texas Democrats who ended a walkout found themselves shadowed by law enforcement officers to keep them from repeating the protest that stalled Republican efforts to redraw congressional districts and fulfil President Donald Trump’s desire to reshape U.S. House maps.
Republicans in the Texas House forced returning Democrats to sign what the Democrats called “permission slips,” agreeing to around-the-clock surveillance by state department of Public Safety officers to leave the floor. However, Democratic Rep. Nicole Collier, of Fort Worth, refused and remained on the House floor Monday night.
The Democrats’ return to Texas puts the Republican-run Legislature in position to satisfy Trump’s demands, possibly later this week, as California Democrats advance new congressional boundaries in retaliation.
Lawmakers had officers posted outside their Capitol offices, and suburban Dallas Rep. Mihaela Plesa said one tailed her on her Monday evening drive back to her apartment in Austin after spending much of the day on a couch in her office. She said he went with her for a staff lunch and even down the hallway with her for restroom breaks.
“We were kind of laughing about it, to be honest, but this is really serious stuff,” Plesa said in a telephone interview with Associated Press. “This is a waste of taxpayer dollars and really performative theatre.”
Collier, who represents a minority-majority district, said she would not “sign away my dignity” and allow Republicans to “control my movements and monitor me”.
“I know these maps will harm my constituents,” she said in a statement. “I won’t just go along quietly with their intimidation or their discrimination.”
The tit-for-tat puts the nation’s two most populous states at the center of an expanding fight over control of Congress ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The battle has rallied Democrats nationally after infighting and frustrations among the party’s voters since Republicans took total control of the federal government in January.
In other developments:
Donald Trump has ruled out a ceasefire in Ukraine as Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his European allies visited the White House to push for US-backed security guarantees as part of any long-term peace deal. The US president, who only last week warned Russia of “very severe consequences” if Vladimir Putin failed to agree to a halt to the fighting, made clear on Monday he had reversed his position. More here.
Missouri attorney general Andrew Bailey announced Monday that he will step down to become co-deputy director of the FBI. Bailey will share the role with deputy director Dan Bongino, as the FBI continues to draw headlines over the ongoing case tied to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Bailey said his last day in office will be 8 September. Missouri governor Mike Kehoe will announce his appointment for Bailey’s replacement on Tuesday.
Donald Trump on Monday announced that lawyers are drafting an executive order to eliminate mail-in voting, days after Vladimir Putin told him US elections were rigged because of postal ballots. In a White House meeting alongside Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump said: “We’re going to start with an executive order that’s being written right now by the best lawyers in the country to end mail in ballots because they’re corrupt.” More here.
The number of people eating at restaurants in Washington DC has plummeted since Donald Trump deployed federal troops to the city, according to data, as the president’s purported crackdown on crime continues. More here.
