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Texas Democratic state Rep. Nicole Collier hung up on a call with California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other Democratic leaders earlier this week over concerns that she had been told she could not be on the call while in the Texas Capitol because it would be a felony.

The bizarre moment highlighted the latest escalating fight over the Texas redistricting bill that Democrats say violates federal voting rights protections. Collier was on a private Zoom call with Newsom, Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin, and others as the Texas House of Representatives debated the controversial redistricting map pushed by former President Donald Trump. The Texas Democrat spoke on the call about how the map discriminated against voters of color and would make it harder for minority communities to vote for the candidates of their choice.

“We have to keep fighting this bill,” Collier said on the call. “It is the moral equivalent of voter suppression. It is out and out racism.”

“This bill will prevent Blacks and browns from being able to choose the candidates of their choice because they’re cracking and packing these districts,” she added.

Collier was on the call for about 30 minutes, according to Newsom, and cut herself off while Martin was speaking. “Sorry, I have to leave. They said it’s a felony for me to do this,” Collier told the group. “I can’t be on the floor or in the bathroom,” she said before turning her camera off.

“You told me I was only allowed to be here in the bathroom,” Collier told the unidentified person, still off camera, before turning back to the group. “No, hang on. Bye everybody. I’ve got to go.” She then hung up on the call.

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker immediately scolded the Texas leadership on the call. “This is outrageous. Let me tell you something, Rep. Collier in the bathroom has more dignity than Donald Trump in the Oval Office,” Booker said.

Newsom nodded, and Booker continued, “What they’re trying to do right there is silence an American leader, silence a Black woman, and that is outrageous. 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.”

Texas in Battle with California Over Redistricting

The moment occurred amid one of the most aggressive fights over congressional redistricting in the country. Dozens of Democratic members of the Texas House of Representatives fled the state for two weeks in what was a highly publicized attempt to deny Republicans a quorum and block the bill. Gov. Greg Abbott and other top GOP officials in Texas subsequently signed orders to have the lawmakers arrested and removed from office if they did not return.

Texas Democrats ultimately returned to Austin, though the state Capitol environment had notably changed by the time members returned. Several Democrats in the legislature told Fox News they had noticed that they had been assigned a Texas Department of Public Safety officer who would sometimes guard their offices or follow them around the Capitol. In some cases, lawmakers described having to sign “permission slips” to leave the Capitol in the new security measures put in place to ensure they could not leave and disrupt quorum.

The redistricting bill that Texas lawmakers were debating this week would add as many as five Republican congressional seats, according to Democrats, who say that would further cement GOP power for the next decade. California Democrats have since responded by pushing their redistricting plan to offset the move in Texas. Newsom and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) announced a new congressional map for California earlier this week that would likely erase five Republican seats in the state and cancel out the new congressional districts they fear Republicans will gain in Texas.

The California map was unveiled on Friday and would essentially wipe out the gains Republicans could have made in Texas by redrawing the lines in California.

The developments have shown that redistricting battles in Texas that have been bubbling up for months have since spilled into national politics. With Democrats and Republicans jockeying for control of Congress in future elections, each new seat could make a difference. The fight in Texas has, in particular, taken on added significance for Democrats, with the battle now acting as both a symbol of larger voting rights issues and a rallying cry to push back against GOP efforts that they say will dilute the political power of minority communities.

Fox News Digital contacted the offices of Booker and Newsom for comment, but did not receive an immediate response. Collier’s office declined to comment when reached by Fox News Digital but cited that the Texas House was still in session.