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

PHARR, Texas (AP) — Latin Grammy winner Bobby Pulido’s music fills the air well before he walks into an adult day care center to round up support for his congressional campaign, his voice crooning in Spanish from a speaker in the corner.

A few of the people playing cards and bantering playfully at the South Texas center ask about the man in cowboy boots, dark jeans, leather jacket and an ivory cowboy hat as the Democrat makes his entrance, but most barely notice. Then the music fades, and Pulido takes a microphone.

It is important to vote and ensure your children do, too, he says in Spanish, “because the truth is that we are living in difficult times right now and it is important to make a change.”

Pulido has had a three-decade career in Tejano music, a style that evolved in the fields and barrios of South Texas. A world away in Washington, Democrats are betting that his celebrity can reverse the party’s deteriorating standing among Hispanics, whose political support has shifted to Republicans in the Trump era. They also see him as the party’s best hope to win a district that was engineered to protect U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, the only House Republican from Texas’ Rio Grande Valley.

With three competitive races this fall, the region is at the center of the battle to control the House after Texas Republicans, at President Donald Trump’s request, redrew congressional district boundaries to give their party an edge. The party primaries are Tuesday.

Pulido is a newcomer to politics who still has two stops left on a farewell music tour, including one this weekend in Mexico. In the Democratic primary, he faces Ada Cuellar, a doctor and law school graduate who is running to his left, with the race reflecting broader party dynamics. Cuellar argues that Pulido is out of touch with voters and that he and the party establishment are putting too much stock in his music-star status.

Both Democrats in the closely contested U.S. Senate primary have waded into the congressional race, with state Rep. James Talarico campaigning with Pulido and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett with Cuellar.

The Democratic nominee in the 15th Congressional District will face an even tougher general election landscape. De La Cruz won the seat by 14 percentage points in 2024, even before Republicans tweaked the boundaries to solidify her position.

Pulido runs from the center in a changing district

The area Pulido hopes to represent stretches from the Mexican border 300 miles north through ranches and small towns. It is 81% Hispanic, poorer than the state and nation as a whole, and overwhelmingly Catholic. It encapsulates the shift of working-class voters Hispanics to the Republican Party, one of the defining political trends of the Trump era.

In the newly constituted district, Democrats saw their support in recent presidential elections fall from 55% for Hillary Clinton in 2016 to 41% for Kamala Harris in 2024.

Pulido has staked out moderate positions that nod to the region’s cultural conservatism, sometimes drawing the ire of the left. He says, for example, that he opposes abortion but supports letting women decide for themselves.

“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,” he said.

Pulido has faced scrutiny for years of bawdy social media posts, including crude and sexist jokes and links to pornographic websites. He once posted a video purporting to show him urinating on Trump’s star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. The singer later said it was a prank with 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. He said he was embarrassed by some of his old posts.

Tough opposition in primary and general elections

Cuellar, Pulido’s chief opponent in the Democratic primary, is emphasizing her experience in the trenches of the health care system. She contrasts her expertise in public policy with Pulido’s as a performer.

“He doesn’t really understand the issues or have the solutions that I have,” she said.

Cuellar is running a more progressive campaign, saying Pulido is out of touch with Democratic voters on abortion in particular.

Pulido is not so much a threat because he is famous, she said, but because he aggressively has backed by “the establishment” in Washington and locally in Hidalgo County, the district’s largest population center. Cuellar said officials, whom she did not name, have pushed her to drop out of the race.

“I am like a scrappy underdog, and I’ve been one my whole life,” Cuellar said. “So I really am not concerned about the celebrity itself, but I’m fighting this establishment pressure, and that’s really the biggest challenge I’m faced with.”

She has largely self-funded her campaign to keep pace with Pulido’s spending and has aired television ads, while he has not.

National Democratic leaders believe Pulido’s more moderate positions make him the best general election candidate against De La Cruz. Though largely aligned with Trump and the House leadership, she was one of only 17 House Republicans to vote with Democrats on a bill extending Affordable Care Act subsidies.

Speaking before Trump at a rally in Corpus Christi on Friday, De La Cruz said she has worked with him to pressure Mexico to release water it owes from the countries’ 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 said.

Celebrity ‘opens the door’

Inside My Morning Star Adult Day Care, where Pulido spoke on a recent day, his music returned as he made rounds from table to table, shaking hands and making small talk in English or Spanish, depending on how he was greeted.

“I’ll ask the sky to not make me suffer anymore,” Pulido’s voice is heard over an accordion and rhythmic percussion, narrating a story of heartbreak and longing. The 1997 song, “Le Pediré,” is among the hits of his three-decade career.

Pulido won Latin Grammy Awards for Best Tejano Album in 2022 and 2025 and was nominated this year for an American Grammy.

He is steeped in the culture of Tejano music, which blends Mexican folk styles with European dance music brought here by Czech, German and Polish settlers. It is deeply rooted in this narrow region of Central and South Texas, where many can trace their lineage to the Republic of Texas before it joined the United States.

Pulido’s father, Roberto Pulido, was a pioneer of the genre, which has receded in popularity since its heyday in the 1990s, when Selena broke through as a mainstream pop artist.

More than just celebrity, Bobby Pulido’s deep history in the genre gives him credibility with people in the area, said Cathy Ragland, an ethnomusicology professor at University of North Texas, who studies U.S.-Mexico border music.

“He is a homegrown guy in the border, and that gets you a lot of mileage,” she said.

Celebrity is an asset when running for office, Pulido said later, sitting on a bench outside the adult day care center. But it is no guarantee of 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.”