Sheriff-turned-lawmaker Nehls faced off with rioters in viral photo
Plainclothes and uniformed U.S. Capitol Police officers moved swiftly onto the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday, ushering out Speaker Nancy Pelosi and instructing members of Congress to stay seated — U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls among them.
Three days earlier, the former Fort Bend County sheriff had been sworn in as the representative for Texas’ 22nd District, which covers suburbs south and southwest of Houston. The proTrump Republican was among a group planning Wednesday to vote against certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s election as president, citing baseless voter fraud claims.
Now officers were securing the many doors leading into the House chamber, and someone said the Capitol had been breached. Lawmakers were instructed to pull out gas masks from under their chairs. Seated in the back near the center, Nehls heard rioters incited by President Donald Trump violently bang and kick at a nearby door.
“This can’t happen,” Nehls, 52, thought.
Those inside dragged over furniture to barricade the entry.
Nehls, a decorated Army veteran who served combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, removed his jacket. No longer carrying a service revolver as he did while sheriff, he broke off a long piece of furniture to defend himself and keep back intruders.
Glass shattered, sounding like gunfire.
In images that would be seen around the world, Nehls, in a royal blue dress shirt, stood directly at a chamber window as a rioter looked in with rage fromthe other side. Officers drew guns and trained them at those threatening to barge in. Nehls didn’t want anyone hurt. So they talked.
“This is un-American,” Nehls recalled telling them, “and this isn’t the way we should conduct ourselves.”
Nehls had left his cellphone in his suit jacket. But his twin brother Trever, a former county constable who ran unsuccessfully for his brother’s sheriff job last fall, had texted around 1:25 p.m. to check in.
“How are you pal?” he had asked.
“Doing fine,” Nehls had responded. “Locked us in House floor.”
Standing now by the door, it was obvious to the freshman congressman that those on the other side were frustrated, angry and upset. He couldn’t comprehend why disagreement had led them to violence. A woman was fatally shot by police and three others died in the mayhem. Many Democrats and some Republicans blamed Trump for the insurrection, citing his call at amidday rally for them to march on the Capitol.
Seeing his Texas flag mask, a member of the mob told Nehls, “You should be with us.”
But Nehls didn’t agree with them at all. He told them to back up, to get away from the door. Lawmakers began leaving the chamber but Nehls, surrounded by officers and a colleague from Oklahoma, stayed.
Back in Texas, Nehls’ wife, Jill, felt sick. At the Lamar Consolidated ISD school where she is principal, she had her phone on silent mode but happened to see messages about the break-in filling a thread she shares with other spouses of new members.
Shewent to see her administrative assistant, needing to tell someone. She felt hot. Her hands were clammy. Her assistant prayed. Jill Nehls paced, telling herself it was OK.
She hadn’t wanted to call her husband in the heat of the moment, but at 1:35 p.m. she texted: “I’m hearing things love. Is everything OK?”
Eleven minutes later, with still no response, she typed, “I love you.”
Then her assistant found the photo: The manin blue at the window, wielding a giant stick. “That looks like Troy,” she said. When her husband deployed, Jill Nehls always looked at a picture of him in uniform talking to kids, the back of his head showing as he leaned over. She realized it was him.
His twin brother knew it too. They’re identical and both have blonde hair.
A military veteran like Troy, Trever Nehls considered what a horrible day it was. He struggled to imagine the mob trampling through the historic building he had just visited for the swearingin, last breached by the British in wartime in 1814.
But hewas proud of his brother. “I would have expected nothing different,” he thought, “than him saying, ‘Let’s handle this.’”
Troy Nehls wanted to continue to protect the storied space where he had come to work. But then the sound of a gunshot rang out. Officers told the remaining lawmakers to go. And they did, exiting through the back hall to a secure building.
Nehls called his wife, who had to explain to their daughters what was happening. Their 8-year-old, used to seeing her dad on television, saw the photo and told her mom, “I am so proud of him.”
That night, Nehls still voted against certifying the Arizona and Pennsylvania electoral votes for Biden. He said he believes changes to election laws were unconstitutional, which they have not been shown to be. The electoral votes were ultimately certified and Vice President Mike Pence declared Biden the winner early Thursday.
Nehls said he feels the responsibility going forward to talk with others to work through differences. He wishes the rioters — whom he hopes to see prosecuted — would come to his office to talk about why they behaved with the rage that they did.