State of Texas: Texas Democrats divided on Biden's ability to win after presidential debate

Two Texas house democrats have issued conflicting public statements on their support for Biden after his performance in the debate.

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — More than a week after the first presidential debate of the 2024 election season raised concerns about President Joe Biden's ability to serve, many Democrats are still reconsidering their support for the President's re-election bid.

Two House Democrats from Texas issued differing public statements on their support for Biden after his performance in the debate.

Congressman Lloyd Doggett of Austin called on Biden to remove his name from the ballot on Tuesday making him the first Democrat in the U.S. House to publicly withdraw support.

"I'm really very, very concerned that our country is about to be taken over by a criminal and its gang," Doggett said Tuesday in an interview for the State of Texas politics program.

"The danger is great to our democracy and I don't believe that President Biden is our strongest candidate to put up to put a stop to this," Doggett added.

Doggett told KXAN that he regrets not voicing his concerns sooner about Biden's cognitive ability.

"We thought the debate would give us the momentum to begin a comeback to try to overcome the bad poll numbers that have been out there," Doggett said, noting that he watched the debate with his wife, Libby. "Instead, we were alarmed at what wasn't said as well as what was mumbled through the debate."

But many Democrats are rallying behind the president. Dallas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett proclaimed her full support for Biden after the debate.

"Do I think that it was his best performance? Absolutely not," Crockett told reporters on Wednesday. "Do I think that the substance was there? I absolutely do."

Crockett criticized those in the party that are 'bailing' on him for his performance in the debate, drawing a comparison between Biden and former president Trump.

"In addition to the fact that he wasn't sitting inside of a courtroom being prosecuted for 34 felonies, instead he was out on the road," Crockett said. "And so as he began to speak, you could hear that he was hoarse. So we're talking about somebody who has been working not only behind the scenes, but he has been working in the streets."

Texas Republicans are speaking up about Biden's debate performance as well. Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said in an interview with Newsmax that Biden appeared tired during the 9:00 pm debate because it was 'past his bedtime.' He told the reporter that Biden will lose 'big time' if he stays on the ballot.

In a post on X, Senator Ted Cruz said Democrats are withdrawing support for Biden after the debate which he describes as a 'disaster.'

Biden vowed on Wednesday to stay in the race, disregarding pressure from Democrats who question his ability to win. Biden and Trump agreed to have another debate planned for Sept. 10 which ABC News will host.

The Democratic National Convention is scheduled for August 19 - 22 in Chicago. Doggett urged Biden to step aside before then, and allow delegates at the convention to choose another candidate.

Doggett said he does not have a preferred presidential candidate at this point and he is not acting on behalf of any particular candidate.

"We've got a number of good potential candidates, governors, senators, perhaps the vice president, who all can compete openly and fairly and then get about the business of uniting behind them to provide a reasonable alternative to President Trump," Doggett said.

Resolution filed as hospital crash surveillance surfaces

Newly viewed surveillance video taken from inside the lobby of St. David's North Austin Medical Center shows the hard-to-watch moment when the Bernard family was run over by a drunk driver, who was killed by the impact.

The video comes as Austin City Council Member Mackenzie Kelly filed a resolution, published late Friday, that aims to "prevent vehicle crashes at medical facilities" by requiring crash-rated safety bollards at all new hospital entrances built in the future.

The footage shows Levi and Nadia Bernard standing in front of the large lobby aquarium on Feb. 13 as their two toddlers kneel on its ledge, their faces pressing tight against the glass. In an instant, a vehicle speeds into frame, swallowing the family as the fish tank explodes – sending glass, water and wood debris flying everywhere.

The vehicle comes to a stop next to the ER's information and registration desks. The tail lights are flashing. The video shows Nadia, whose leg is broken, lying on the ground to the right of the car holding their oldest son, Rio, who is crying. Levi gets up and climbs on top of and over the car in a frantic search for their now-2-year-old, Sunny, who went through the car's windshield.

The overhead surveillance video doesn't have audio but captures the chaotic moments before and after the crash as hospital workers rush to try to help as smoke fills the lobby. It was shown to KXAN by a source who said it was obtained from Austin police. KXAN has opted, at this time, not to publish or air the video, since St. David's owns the footage and has not yet given us legal permission to show it. KXAN has separately requested the video from APD and is awaiting a final determination on its release. We asked St. David's for comment on the video but, as of publication, it has not responded yet.

Bystander video previously given to KXAN showed the immediate aftermath from inside but this is our first look at how it happened, how the family took a direct hit, and how fast the driver, whose blood alcohol content was between three and four times the legal limit to drive, appeared to be going. The incident is detailed in the family's million-dollar lawsuit against St. David's HealthCare accusing one of the largest health systems in Texas of "gross negligence" for not having bollards at the time. A dozen of those security barriers were installed after the crash, including five installed after KXAN's investigation.

"The video will show exactly what happens when hospitals delay installing protective safety bollards - families get run over in devastating fashion," said the Bernard family's attorney, Sean Breen. "If St. David's had installed safety bollards there like it should have and did in other facilities, the car would have never crashed into the ER and the Bernard family never gets run over."

This week, another victim was added to that lawsuit, alleging the crash also caused him "severe injuries." At least five people, including all four members of the Bernard family, were injured.

“The safety of our patients and their families, as well as our employees and visitors, is always our top priority,” St. David’s HealthCare previously said in a statement, adding, per policy, “we do not comment on pending claims or litigation.”

In addition to requiring bollards at new hospitals in Austin, Kelly's draft resolution tasks the city manager with finding ways to incentivize existing hospitals to voluntarily install bollards or in some cases – if a hospital applies for a permit to build or expand, for example – trigger a requirement.

Hospitals, not taxpayers, would pay for the bollards.

"The team at KXAN did such a good job of explaining the problem and providing potential solutions that it would have been stupid for me not to have looked into this as a solution for the city of Austin," said Kelly. "I mean, I've always been dedicated to public safety."

The resolution would initiate an amendment to the city code and specifically mentions how "a KXAN investigation found that similar incidents have happened more than 300 times across the country" in the last decade.

Our ongoing investigation continues to track crashes into medical centers and found, to this point, more than 340.

In May, Kelly directed her staff to take action on this issue in the middle of watching our investigation.

"After we spoke, I moved forward by taking action to prevent accidents like these from occurring in the future," Kelly said. "I wanted to make sure every resident in the city of Austin is safe when they are visiting a hospital or emergency room."

Three other council members have co-sponsored her resolution, including Vanessa Fuentes, who previously told KXAN she wanted to prevent what happened to the Bernard family from happening to anyone else. Council Members Ryan Alter and Jose "Chito" Vela have also signed on, according to the agenda.

The potential policy change will need at least one more vote to pass, Kelly said.

Both Levi and Nadia, who is still in a wheelchair, are expected to testify to council members in favor of the resolution, their attorney confirmed.

"Nadia cried when she heard that news that lawmakers are taking this seriously, amazing how quickly your story is getting attention," Levi told KXAN in May after Kelly and Fuentes promised to look into a bollard requirement.

"I am very sorry that that tragedy happened to them," Kelly told KXAN before the resolution was made public. "But, it's my goal to prevent it from happening to anybody else in the future. And it warms my heart that they're touched that we're doing this. Unfortunately, sometimes in life it takes a sort of tragedy to enact change. But my hope is that this never happens again."

Kelly hopes her resolution will serve as a model for other cities around the country. Last month, a College Station city council member said he too was looking into a bollard ordinance in response to KXAN's investigation.

"To see the problem, and then the solution from you all, and just to know and understand from across the country that this is a much larger problem than just the city of Austin," Kelly said. "I wanted the city of Austin to lead on it."

Asked if she's optimistic the measure will pass, Kelly responded, confidently: "Oh absolutely. Yes."

If that happens, the city manager would have until Oct. 31 to bring forward proposed changes. The council is expected to vote on the resolution at its next meeting on July 18.

Director of Investigations & Innovation Josh Hinkle, Investigative Photojournalist Chris Nelson, Digital Special Projects Developer Robert Sims and Digital Director Kate Winkle

Campaign Context: The Race for U.S. Senate

We are just four months out from the general election and the campaign for U.S. Senate is ramping up. Democratic Congressman Colin Allred is challenging incumbent Republican Senator Ted Cruz.

They're vastly different candidates with different visions for how to represent you in Washington.

KXAN anchor Daniel Marin recently spent an afternoon with each candidate. The one-on-one interviews took place away from the noise and rhetoric of the campaign trail. The goal was to have real conversations to reveal things you won't hear in a political ad or a quick soundbite.

Our team put together a one-hour special presentation where you can see more of our conversations with the candidates. Campaign Context: The Race for Senate will air Wednesday at 7 PM on most Nexstar stations across Texas.

Governor, Lt. Governor push to expand program aimed at building more power plants 

This week, top Texas leadership called for an "immediate review" of all policies related to the power grid in response to the latest estimates about future demand on the state's power grid.

In a joint statement released Monday, Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick pointed to recent testimony from Pablo Vegas, CEO of the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), where he told lawmakers Texas could need as much as 150,000 megawatts of power by 2030.

"That's effectively almost doubling the peak demand of the ERCOT grid in about six years," Vegas said at a June 12 hearing of the Senate Business and Commerce committee.

Abbott and Patrick also announced efforts to double the amount of money available through the Texas Energy Fund. Voters passed a resolution last November to create the $5 billion program, which will provide low-interest loans to incentivize the building of more dispatchable natural gas plants.

Abbott and Patrick's statement noted the state has already received notices of intent to apply from companies totaling $39 million, "making the program nearly eight times oversubscribed." They said they would seek to expand the program to $10 billion.

According to the statement, the average plant will take three to four years to complete, and new transmission lines will take three to six years to complete. 

“Texas is currently the fastest state to approve and build new plants and transmission lines because of our low regulations and pro-business policies, but we must move quickly,” the statement said.

In the same hearing in June, lawmakers heard striking statistics on the increasing energy demands of the Bitcoin and artificial intelligence sectors. As KXAN previously reported, Vegas said one graphics processing unit, which is a core technology for Artificial Intelligence (AI), uses as much power as an average home uses in an entire year. He compared one AI company’s energy demand to bringing half a million homes onto the grid in an instant.

Joshua Rhodes, a research scientist at The University of Texas at Austin, told KXAN the latest high-end estimates about peak demand should be "taken with a grain of salt."

"If every single potential data center and green hydrogen facility and crypto mine and everything that possibly wants to connect in the next six years were to connect, then that demand would jump — could jump — up to 150 gigawatts. But that would be growth on a scale that we've never seen before," he said.

However, he believes the forecast will help Texas be more proactive.

"The idea is that if we are planning for larger amounts of load, then we'll be more proactive in doing things like building transmission and other supporting infrastructure to be able to meet it," he explained. "It is, you know, kind of a thermometer as to where demand is going to grow in the state, so that we can be more proactive in building that infrastructure to that part of the state."