Bobby Pulido charts his own path amid congressional decision
The Tejano icon is steering clear of political labels and choosing instead to define his own identity.
Bobby Pulido, a Tejano music icon and household name in South Texas, has recently formed an exploratory committee as he weighs a decision on whether or not to run for Congress in Texas’ 15th congressional district.
The district is currently represented by Republican Monica De La Cruz, while Pulido has described himself as a “proud Democrat.”
At a rally in McAllen a few weeks ago, Pulido spoke to a crowd of South Texas voters where he discussed his political priorities and beliefs. Among the issues discussed were healthcare reform, the economy, the federal budget, and the deep polarization in modern politics.
The various positions and issues he talked about during the rally don’t place him neatly in any political camps; he embraced various positions that can be described as “moderate,” “progressive,” and “populist.”
During his speech, Pulido spoke passionately about the need for progressive healthcare reform. “To me, healthcare is important, I don’t have insurance. You know where I go get my healthcare? Mexico,” he told the crowd. “Should we be ashamed of ourselves, that we live in a first world country and I gotta go get surgery in Mexico ‘cause it’s too expensive [here]?” Pulido asked. He also spoke out against Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill as he calls it, which drastically cut funding for Medicare and Medicaid.
Pulido also tried to win over Trump voters at his rally with a plea that could be seen as a more moderate approach. He called for an end to the hyper-partisan divide that has taken hold of our society. “There’s a big problem right now, we’re divided more than we’ve ever been,” Pulido said. “I know a lot of people that voted for Trump, I did not and I never would. But you know what? There are good people that voted for Trump, […] and a lot of good people voted for Kamala too,” he proclaimed.
Through his rhetoric, Pulido emphasizes that he’s a Democrat first, resisting attempts to label him as either moderate or progressive. This strategy may prove to be beneficial as he tries to win over more conservative voters in the north of Congressional District 15.
As of now, Pulido has not officially declared his candidacy, but he appears to be committed to running even if Texas Republicans successfully redraw the district’s boundaries, which is estimated to add thousands of more Republican voters.