The “Desvelado” singer faces a tough run as a Democrat in a redrawn Latino district that largely voted for President Donald Trump.
Texas Senate passes Trump-backed redistricting bill
The Texas Senate approved the GOP-favored voting map that could flip five seats in the 2026 midterm elections.
Tejano music star Bobby Pulido wants to represent South Texas in Congress, though the Democrat will have to compete in a seat that has swung red.
On Sept. 17, the 54-year-old Latin Grammy Award-winning singer launched his campaign in the 2026 midterm elections to unseat Rep. Monica De La Cruz, a two-term GOP congresswoman in the Rio Grande Valley. Pulido faces a tough run in a predominantly Latino district where President Donald Trump has made historic gains.
Pulido is known for heartbreaking 1990s hits such as “Desvelado” and “Se Murió de Amor,” which helped popularize Tejano along the likes of the late Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, who is considered the “queen of Tejano music.” Now Pulido, a Rio Grande Valley native, hopes to once again champion his region in Washington, D.C.
“I’ve spent decades using my voice to bring people together,” Pulido says in his Spanglish-infused campaign launch video for Texas’ 15th congressional district. “Now, I’ll use it to fight for the place we call home, because this is the only stage that really matters, and it’s worth fighting for.”
Democrats hope the midterms will swing against Trump to give them control of the House of Representatives. Pulido is set to first face a Democratic primary, which so far includes Dr. Ada Cuellar, a local emergency medicine physician.
In 2024, the hit singer announced he’d step away from a decades-long music career to focus on politics, but this is his first campaign run.
He’s made it clear he isn’t running as a member of the Democratic Party’s insurgent left wing.
While his campaign video references the region’s large numbers of immigrants, Pulido told Rolling Stone a progressive couldn’t win in the district, which he called the most conservative in South Texas. While voters previously supported Democrats in huge numbers, Trump won the district with nearly 60% of the vote in 2024.
The seat needs a “tailor-made candidate” to win, he told Rolling Stone. His video points to his family’s roots in the area, including how his father worked as a migrant farmworker.
“I’m not team red, I’m not team blue,” he says in his campaign video. “South Texas, I’m team you.”
Republicans have pointed to their success in South Texas as evidence of their growing popularity among Latinos.
De La Cruz, an insurance agent, flipped the district red in 2022, after Democrat Vicente Gonzalez Jr. dropped out while facing tough re-election prospects in a redistricted seat favoring Republicans. De La Cruz easily won re-election in 2024.
With the news of Pulido entering the race, De La Cruz said politics can wait until 2026.
“Right now, I’m delivering on what South Texans just elected me to do: securing millions of dollars to grow our local economy, strengthening our police and border security, saving our farms, and protecting Social Security and Medicare,” she said in a statement. “These are my priorities, and I’m proud of the results we’ve achieved for our community through common-sense leadership.”
In August, Texas GOP state lawmakers redrew congressional seats in their favor to stave off a Democratic wave in the midterms. However, the Texas Tribune reported the newly drawn district’s 17.9%-margin for Trump remains the same compared to 2024.
The district snakes through southeast Texas from the border near Hidalgo − through Pulido’s native Edinburg − and northward up around Corpus Christi, where the Tejano singer Selena has her roots.