'Vulnerability I've never felt before': Wendy Davis testifies in Austin 'Trump Train' trial

Former state Sen. Wendy Davis testified Tuesday in Austin federal court that the 90-minute confrontation between a Biden-Harris campaign bus in which she was traveling and a convoy of Trump supporters who surrounded it on Interstate 35 in 2020 left her with a "vulnerability I've never felt before," making her fearful at political events that were once like second nature to her.

Concluding more than five hours of testimony and cross-examination, Davis said she had never felt truly afraid to appear in public before that day — even after a man launched Molotov cocktails at her district office , starting a small fire in 2012.

"I never walked away from those incidents feeling afraid," Davis said. "Now I do feel afraid."

Davis was on the stand as a plaintiff and a witness in a lawsuit that accuses six "Trump Train" drivers of violating the Ku Klux Klan Act , an 1871 federal law that forbids two or more people from conspiring to use violence, intimidation or harassment to prevent a citizen from engaging in political support or advocacy. The jury trial began Monday.

The plaintiffs are seeking punitive and compensatory damages as well as attorneys' fees.

During the trial, the defendants sought to paint the plaintiffs as engaging in politically motivated "lawfare" and described the event as a typical, if "very loud," car-based rally.

Before the Oct. 30, 2020, incident, which took place days before the presidential election, Davis, the then-Democratic nominee for a U.S. House seat, and a Joe Biden campaign staffer were planning to make a stop at an early voting location and conclude a "Battle for the Soul of the Nation" tour in Austin.

They canceled both events after dozens of vehicles, adorned with pro-Donald Trump flags, surrounded and followed the bus, swerving, brake-checking and impeding it so that it was forced at times to travel as slowly as 15 mph on a highway with a speed limit of 70 mph, according to testimony and video Tuesday.

Eventually, one of the defendants in the case, Eliazar Cisneros, sideswiped the car of a Biden campaign staffer following the bus. Davis, campaign staffer David Gins and driver Tim Holloway, who were the sole occupants of the campaign bus, sued in June 2021.

Gins and Holloway, who have yet to testify, both said they experienced extreme distress as a result of the confrontation. Holloway "was so traumatized by the incident" that he ceased his tour bus business and stopped driving buses, while Gins developed acute anxiety and canceled his participation in Biden's inaugural parade in 2021, according to the complaint.

After the "Trump Train" incident, Davis said Tuesday, she didn't speak in public again until the fall of 2021. At that event, she hired private security for the first time in her career "because (she) was so anxious," she said.

Davis, of Fort Worth, has been a fixture in Texas politics since 2009, when she was elected to the state Senate. She rose to national prominence with a 15-hour filibuster that killed an abortion restriction bill in the 2013 regular legislative session, though lawmakers later passed the bill in a second session. After losing a Senate reelection campaign in 2015 to Chip Roy, an Austin Republican who now serves in the U.S. House, Davis unsuccessfully ran against Gov. Greg Abbott as a gubernatorial candidate.

She now runs the political advocacy arm of Planned Parenthood.

During cross-examination, attorneys for the "Trump Train" drivers sought to associate Davis' documented anxiety and depression after the incident with her 2020 congressional loss to Roy for U.S. House District 21.

Erin Mersino, an attorney representing Dolores Park, a mother of five who drove one of the cars in the procession, questioned Davis about the roughly two dozen speaking engagements she said she participated in between the event and now. Defense attorney Jason Greaves compared his clients' combative social media posts to the Biden bus's slogan, "Battle for the Soul of the Nation," asking Davis if she understood that "in politics, there's a lot of rhetorical fighting language."

She said yes.

He then returned to a theme of class and political conflict from his opening statements, saying, "So you just got yourself some lawyers, and you sued a bunch of working-class Americans."

Davis' attorney said the question was argumentative, and Judge Robert Pitman sustained the objection.

Trump Train was a 'moving blockade'

After Davis left the stand, the plaintiffs called former Fort Worth Police Chief Theron Bowman in as an expert witness. He said he reviewed 53 videos, case evidence and social media posts to compile a report on the Oct. 30, 2020, incident, in which he identified 35 cars as participants.

Bowman spent 34 years as an officer — 14 years as the Fort Worth police chief — and has a doctorate in urban and public administration, in addition to running a consultancy. (On Monday, the defense assailed Bowman as a "fancy expert" who has made millions annually through participation in trials such as this one.)

The videos showed cars breaking two criminal laws, Bowman testified: deadly conduct and obstructing a highway. He also cited traffic laws that were "repeatedly" broken, including laws against instant messaging.

The "Trump Train" drivers "endangered the bus and other members of the motoring public in close proximity of that bus," he said, adding that the group coordinated to create a "moving blockade."

One video presented as evidence showed defendant Park filming herself while holding a flag out of her sunroof — which, Bowman emphasized, meant no hands were on the wheel. Her speedometer read 25 mph at one point as she honked repeatedly at the Trump flag-adorned trucks in front of her. Park was far behind the bus in the video.

"Let's go!" Park yelled as she drove. "This is awesome!"

The trial is expected to continue at least until next Tuesday but might extend past Sept. 20.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: 'Vulnerability I've never felt before': Wendy Davis testifies in Austin 'Trump Train' trial