Democrats look to Tejano music star Bobby Pulido in a high-stakes South Texas congressional race

Latin Grammy winner Bobby Pulido brings his star power to Texas congressional race, challenging Republican stronghold in changing district

The sound of Bobby Pulido’s Tejano melodies fills a South Texas adult day care center before the man himself appears, dressed in cowboy boots, dark jeans, leather jacket, and an ivory cowboy hat. After making his entrance, the Latin Grammy winner takes a microphone and addresses the room in Spanish, urging everyone to vote.

“We are living in difficult times right now and it is important to make a change,” Pulido tells the gathered seniors, many of whom were playing cards when he arrived.

With a three-decade career in Tejano music, Pulido is now attempting to translate his cultural celebrity into political capital as he seeks the Democratic nomination for Texas’ 15th Congressional District. Democratic strategists see the music star as their best hope to unseat Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz, the only GOP House member from Texas’ Rio Grande Valley.

The primary election on Tuesday will determine if Pulido advances to what promises to be a challenging general election in a district that has steadily shifted rightward in recent years. Texas Republicans, at former President Donald Trump’s request, redrew congressional district boundaries to give their party an advantage in this once reliably Democratic region.

The 15th District has become a crucial battleground in the fight for control of the House of Representatives, with South Texas featuring three competitive races this November. The region exemplifies the national trend of Hispanic voters, particularly working-class ones, moving toward the Republican Party during the Trump era.

In the newly constituted district, which is 81% Hispanic and stretches 300 miles from the Mexican border through rural communities, Democratic presidential support has plummeted from 55% for Hillary Clinton in 2016 to just 41% for Kamala Harris in 2024.

Recognizing these demographic shifts, Pulido has positioned himself as a moderate Democrat. On contentious issues like abortion, he takes a nuanced stance, saying that while he personally opposes the procedure, he believes women should make their own decisions.

“Even if I personally would not be OK with it, I still respect that other people might make their own decisions and that we have to be OK with that,” Pulido explained.

His primary opponent, Ada Cuellar, a doctor and law school graduate, has criticized this approach, arguing Pulido is out of touch with Democratic voters on reproductive rights. Running to his left, Cuellar portrays herself as “a scrappy underdog” fighting against the Democratic establishment that has rallied behind the celebrity candidate.

“He doesn’t really understand the issues or have the solutions that I have,” Cuellar said, emphasizing her healthcare expertise over Pulido’s performance background. She has largely self-funded her campaign to match Pulido’s spending and has aired television advertisements while he has not.

The primary has drawn involvement from statewide Democratic figures, with state Rep. James Talarico campaigning alongside Pulido and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett supporting Cuellar.

Pulido has faced scrutiny over his past social media activity, including crude jokes and provocative content. He once posted a video purportedly showing him urinating on Trump’s star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, though he later claimed it was a prank using a water bottle.

“My sense of humor on social media — and it’s very much in Spanish, I have a lot of fans in Mexico — sometimes that humor doesn’t translate,” Pulido said, expressing embarrassment about some of his old posts.

Meanwhile, Rep. De La Cruz has solidified her position with Republicans. She appeared at a Trump rally in Corpus Christi last Friday, touting their collaboration on pressuring Mexico to release water owed from the shared Rio Grande basin.

“We have together delivered for Texas and delivered for our nation by turning all of South Texas red, and we will continue to keep Texas red,” De La Cruz declared at the event.

Despite facing an uphill battle in a district De La Cruz won by 14 percentage points in 2024, Democratic strategists believe Pulido’s cultural connections could help rebuild support among Hispanic voters who have drifted away from the party.

Pulido’s deep roots in Tejano music give him unique credibility in the region. The musical genre blends Mexican folk styles with European dance music brought by Czech, German, and Polish settlers. His father, Roberto Pulido, was a pioneer of the style, which reached peak popularity in the 1990s with artists like Selena.

“He is a homegrown guy in the border, and that gets you a lot of mileage,” said Cathy Ragland, an ethnomusicology professor at the University of North Texas who studies U.S.-Mexico border music.

As Pulido makes his rounds at the day care center, his hit song “Le Pediré” plays in the background. The 1997 track that tells of heartbreak and longing is among the hits that earned him Latin Grammy Awards in 2022 and 2025, with an American Grammy nomination this year.

Pulido, who still has two stops remaining on his farewell music tour, acknowledges that celebrity provides an opening with voters but won’t guarantee electoral success.

“I’m not going to lie, it opens the door. It doesn’t seal the deal,” Pulido said. “I don’t think people vote for you because you’re famous. They’ll listen to you because you’re famous, and then they’re going to decide if they want to vote for you or not.”