Bobby Pulido played one of the final shows of his career on a Friday night in early October at a street festival in the South Texas town of Alice, a county seat near the King Ranch where LBJ’s allies stole the 1948 Senate election and generations of Tejano music stars got their start.
asserted
generations → play → start
The 53-year-old Pulido, who is both a Tejano music legend and the son of one, is the Democratic nominee in the state’s 15th congressional district, a freshly gerrymandered swath of Texas that starts on the border in Hidalgo and stretches north for about 300 miles.
asserted
that → start → miles
When he entered the race last year to unseat Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz, it seemed like an uphill climb.
asserted
it → enter → climb
Donald Trump would have carried the district by 18 points in 2024 and Republicans were so encouraged by recent swings in South Texas that they redrew the maps to secure a clean Republican sweep.
asserted
they → carry → sweep
But polls have shown the Democrat with a consistent lead in the race, and the Cook Political Report now considers it a “toss-up.”
asserted
it → show → race
Pulido has been buoyed by both national and regional trends.
asserted
Pulido → buoy → trends
One recent survey showed that Latino voters in Texas have swung 16 points away from Trump since 2024, raising the possibility of a Democratic sweep in South Texas instead.
asserted
voters → show → Texas
(I wrote about Democrats’ efforts to hold onto the new 35th district, outside San Antonio, last week.)
asserted
I → write → Antonio
But his success, for now, is also a feature of what Pulido specifically brings to the race—and how he’s gone about it.
asserted
he → bring → it
The performance in Alice was not, strictly speaking, a campaign event—Pulido was headlining a free show celebrating the legacy of the accordionist Ruben Naranjo Sr.
asserted
Pulido → speak → accordionist
People brought their own folding chairs and sat on the sidewalks and in the street under twinkling lights, while a few brave souls danced in front of the stage.
asserted
souls → bring → stage
When the Democrat was introduced, his candidacy was mentioned only in passing.
asserted
candidacy → introduce → passing
It was billed as his last show in the area before he retires from his current profession; a little more than a week later, he played his official farewell concert before 3,000 people at an arena outside McAllen.
asserted
he → bill → McAllen
But it was hard to avoid the context in which Pulido was performing.
asserted
Pulido → avoid → which
Behind the crowd, near the smoker and the truck selling pickles, a group of supporters in Pulido for Congress t-shirts was frying up chicharron.
asserted
group → sell → chicharron
Everywhere I turned downtown, I could see his smiling face on signs, peering out from under his trademark cowboy hat.
uncertain
I → turn → hat
He arrived in a campaign van, and when he finished performing, after a spirited rendition of “Ojalá Te Animes,” Pulido descended the steps on the side into a mob of fans and photograph seekers.
asserted
Pulido → arrive → fans
I followed the crush until we finally escaped into the nearest building to chat briefly about the race.
asserted
we → follow → race
Pulido took in the racks of pastel quinceañera gowns and shrugged.
asserted
Pulido → take → gowns
After Pulido emerged from his primary runoff last May, De La Cruz, who handily defeated a serious Democratic challenger two years ago, seemed confident she could do it again.
uncertain
she → emerge → it
“This election isn’t about who you want performing at your niece’s quinceañera,” she said in a video message.
asserted
she → want → message
“It’s about who you trust with your family’s future.”
asserted
you → ’ → future
Pulido says now, “it could be one of the most costliest blunders anyone’s ever made.”
uncertain
anyone → say → blunders
“We would never have done a quinceañera—I promise that that was not in the plan,” he told me.
asserted
he → do → me
But after the congresswoman’s jab, people began reaching out, seeing if he was available.
asserted
he → begin → jab
“We didn’t think we’d get that kind of response.
asserted
we → think → response
After one day we had a thousand invites.
asserted
we → have → invites
And we’ve done almost 80 of them.
asserted
we → do → them
We’ve collected lots of data from people.
asserted
We → collect → people
Like, willingly, they give it to us.
asserted
they → give → us
And we’re able to get in front of a different type of working-class voter that during the week they’re too busy working, you’re never gonna see them throughout the course of the campaign.
asserted
you → ’re → campaign
For us to be able to get in front of them is truly a gift that she gave us.
asserted
she → get → us
Pulido offers a glimpse of how Democrats aim to win back the kinds of voters who have recently been drifting away from them.
asserted
who → offer → them
He hammers the Iran war and talks about how the president’s tariffs and misleadership have crushed the regional economy, which is hugely dependent on agriculture and international trade.
asserted
which → hammer → agriculture
Trump promised to make things cheaper; gas in the district has hit $3.99 a gallon.
asserted
gas → promise → 3.99
Pulido is comfortable criticizing conditions on the border during the Biden administration but full of anger over the pervasive racial profiling and cruelty of Trump 2.0.
asserted
Pulido → criticize → Trump
When I was there in 2024, Democrats flooded the airwaves in De La Cruz’s district with ads about abortion; Pulido, who has said he is personally pro-life but that “it’s not my place to tell a woman what she can do with her body
asserted
she → flood → body
,” describes the voters of his district as “culturally very conservative, hard-working people that really want our elected officials to focus on pocketbook issues.”
asserted
officials → describe → issues
In battleground districts in 2026, populism plays too—lower drug prices, congressional stock trading, Citizens United, data centers, and the Epstein files.
asserted
populism → play → 2026
“People feel like they got lied to,” he says.
asserted
he → feel → ?
…and 18 more, not listed.
The Aporia
