EDINBURG, TEXAS — Latin Grammy-winning Tejano singer Bobby Pulido secured the Democratic nomination for Texas's Fifteenth Congressional District in early March. The 52-year-old musician will challenge Republican U.S. Representative Monica De La Cruz, the incumbent who flipped the district in 2022 after it had been held by Democrats for more than a century.

The district, located between the borderlands of McAllen and the eastern outskirts of San Antonio, was 81 percent Hispanic in 2024. De La Cruz, a former insurance agent and the granddaughter of Mexican immigrants, won the seat by nine percentage points in 2022 and expanded her margin to fifteen percentage points in 2024.

Pulido, who has appeared intermittently on Billboard charts since the mid-1990s, has made immigration his primary campaign issue and has said he would help immigrants stay in the United States legally. Also in early March, he traveled to New York City for an event with the centrist political-action committee Welcome PAC.

Pulido announced online that he would stop by quinceañeras in the district to perform for potential constituents. As of early April, his campaign had received more than 3,000 invitations. He travels to weekend events in South Texas in a luxury white Chevrolet Suburban, and at one recent quinceañera he performed for seven minutes before taking selfies with guests and leaving.

"They pay for the food, they pay for the place, they pay for the liquor, and you show up, and they're happy," Pulido said. He said he hoped his status as a regional celebrity would help him connect with voters, describing a district where people stop him in restaurants for photos and drivers honk at him on the highway.

Pulido said traditions in the district serve as a rebellion against change, which he said is a byword for Democrats. "In L.A., you see a robot on the sidewalk taking food, you know? You don't see that kind of shit here," he said. "People would be, like, 'What the hell is that?'"

"People here, they just want to keep everything kind of normal. They still like their trucks like that and they want to play banda music and have it blaring on the speakers," Pulido said.

De La Cruz posted a video online addressing the musician's candidacy. "The election isn't about who you want performing at your niece's quinceañera. It's about who you trust with your family's future," she said.

Pulido's campaign manager, Abel Prado, responded to the remarks. "Did she really say that? Which gringo consultant wrote that?" Prado said.