Tejano famous person Bobby Pulido is buying and selling the stage for the stump. On Wednesday, the Edinburg, Texas, native launched his bid for Congress, aiming to unseat Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz, who flipped the South Texas seat in 2022, shortly after Republicans modified the district’s boundaries to favor their get together.
Pulido isn’t any strange challenger. The Latin Grammy winner is a titan of the Tejano music style, identified for hit songs from the Nineteen Nineties, similar to “Desvelado” and “Se Murió de Amor.” Thirty years after his debut album, he’s on a farewell tour throughout the U.S. and Mexico and says he’ll retire from music if voters ship him to Washington.
“You can gerrymander the district,” Pulido stated. “You can’t gerrymander Tejano culture in South Texas.”
His marketing campaign turns what may need been a sleepy midterm race right into a check of whether or not Democrats can regain misplaced floor in a area as soon as thought of a cornerstone of their coalition.
Texas’ fifteenth Congressional District—a slender strip operating from the Rio Grande Valley up by means of smaller Central Texas counties, now with a number of GOP-engineered twists—was a Democratic stronghold for many years. However in 2021, Republicans redrew the strains, carving the district right into a extra GOP-friendly form. The transfer paid off: De La Cruz turned the primary Republican—and first Latina—elected to symbolize the seat in 2022, then gained reelection by a double-digit margin in 2024.
Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz of Texas, proven in February.
Nationwide Democrats are desirous to flip the seat again. In April, earlier than Texas Republicans handed their new gerrymander, the Democratic Congressional Marketing campaign Committee zeroed in on De La Cruz, naming her the “most vulnerable” Republican in Texas. Meaning Pulido’s race might get nationwide cash and a focus.
It’s an excellent factor Pulido isn’t any stranger to the highlight. His marketing campaign thrusts him into the middle of a fierce redistricting battle—one that would resolve whether or not President Donald Trump’s get together retains its grip on the Home and advances his post-midterm agenda.
In response to MSNBC, which documented the times main as much as Pulido’s announcement, his candidacy is already resonating with Latino voters within the district. Lots of these voters backed Trump in giant numbers in 2024, whilst he campaigned on mass deportations.
However there are indicators that help could also be slipping. Polling from Somos Votantes, a liberal Latino voter group, reveals Trump’s favorability underwater by 20 share factors nationally amongst Latino voters. Amongst Latino males, favorability fell from 52% in Could to 47% in September. Younger voters—one other key phase of Trump’s 2024 base—have cooled much more, along with his approval dropping from 43% to simply 33% over the identical interval.
Pulido nonetheless faces an uphill climb. Trump would have carried the fifteenth District by about 18 factors underneath each the current and newly accepted maps. And first, Pulido has to make it by means of March’s Democratic main, the place he’ll face emergency doctor Ada Cuellar.
Nonetheless, if Pulido wins the first and goes on to beat De La Cruz in November, it could sign that Republicans’ mid-decade gerrymander didn’t defend them in addition to they hoped—and that Democrats have discovered a candidate who can lower into GOP margins with Latino voters.
Pulido isn’t shying away from his roots—or his story. A seventh-generation Texan, he’s spoken brazenly about not having medical health insurance and crossing the border to get care in Mexico. He’s blasted Trump and his billionaire buddies for dodging taxes however hasn’t let Democrats off the hook, both, expressing disappointment with the get together’s border insurance policies.
It’s not straightforward territory for Democrats, who are sometimes described as out of contact with the tradition of South Texas. However Pulido’s title recognition and authenticity might give him an opportunity to flip the district—and if a Tejano legend can’t do it, Democrats could must rethink their technique within the Rio Grande Valley.
“If the people want me here and they believe I best represent them, I’m perfectly comfortable never singing again,” Pulido instructed MSNBC.
