Texas Democrats need more than star power to win in South Texas

Tejano icon Bobby Pulido may draw a crowd, but if Texas Democrats are banking on celebrity status alone to win back South Texas, they could be in for a rude awakening.

Beloved Tejano icon Bobby Pulido remains one of the most recognizable names in South Texas. His music is a staple in most Mexican households and he can draw sizable crowd wherever he performs. While he has an undeniably successful career in music, recent reporting about his entrance into politics continues to grow at a time where Texas Democrats have lost a lot of support and power in the region. According to Politico, Pulido is planning on jumping in the race for congressional district 15 as a Democrat. The seat is currently held by Republican Monica De La Cruz, who was first elected back in 2022.

While Pulido’s announcement is likely to generate a lot of excitement, it’s not clear if that will be enough to propel him to victory in 2026. Pulido will have to contend with the fact that a good portion of Texas’ 15th congressional district stretches beyond South Texas, where he is most popular. In addition to running in a large district, Latino support for Democrats overall in South Texas has declined in recent years.

Despite these challenges, Bobby Pulido has a real opportunity to not only win the district, but also set himself and his fellow Democrats up for another generation of wins in the region. Sources close to Pulido describe him as a “moderate Democrat” and he will likely campaign as one. However, this strategy could be incredibly risky when you consider the fact that Congressman Vicente Gonzalez, who is a staunchly moderate Democrat, made the decision to leave the 15th congressional district and run in the 34th instead, which was widely seen as a more favorable district for Democrats.

At face value it might make sense to run a moderate, maybe even conservative campaign for Congress, but doing so will continue to depress turnout for Democrats in the region. While it’s true that voters in South Texas are more conservative on social issues such as abortion, prayer in schools, and more recently trans students in sports, they are also incredibly supportive of progressive economic priorities such as universal healthcare, labor rights, and a minimum wage increase, due to the overwhelming amount of poverty that exists in the district. According to Census Reporter, 22.8% of residents in Texas’s 15th congressional district live below the federal poverty line, which is 13.7% higher than the national average of 12.5%.

Bobby Pulido can and should run a campaign that leads with a popular economic message. You can call it left-populism, or welfare liberalism, or nothing at all—but the goal should be to energize the Democratic Party’s historic working class base and non-voters by leading with economic priorities that are popular across demographics. Pulido’s campaign can and should also target farmers who live up and down the 15th district. Supporting them on issues like right to repair, federal subsidies, immigrant labor, and using anti-trust rhetoric against the big agricultural companies could go a long way to bringing this group of voters back into the Democratic Party.

The realities of the district demand a more moderate approach to controversial political issues, but progressive economic priorities are overwhelmingly popular in the district and wider region, so it would be incredibly foolish to take a moderate approach to the issues Democrats can actually lead on.