When Texas native Bobby Pulido announced he'd be running for office in the state's 15th congressional district, which stretches from the San Antonio border down to the border with Mexico, many people already knew his name — not as a politician, but as a star in the state's signature Tejano music genre.
In September, on the same day he received his fifth Latin Grammy nomination, Pulido officially threw his cowboy hat in the ring as a Democratic candidate against incumbent Rep. Monica De La Cruz. Three years earlier, she'd become the first Republican to ever flip the historically blue district. On the campaign trail, De la Cruz has used Pulido's music background as a dig against her opponent, stating that this election "isn't about who you want performing at your niece's quinceañera." In response, Pulido posted a video on social media underlining how significant those celebrations are to the communities of South Texas.
"A quinceañera isn't just a pachanga [party], it's a rite of passage that brings family and neighbors together, and honestly, that's exactly what this campaign is about," he said in the video. "We want to bring people together, not tear them apart."
According to the San Antonio Express-News, the back-and-forth resulted in a wave of invitations for Pulido to appear at quinceañeras across the district. Now, the singer-turned-politician is campaigning on his longtime connection to South Texas culture, or as he described it in an interview with Texas Public Radio, "Tejano culture," that reflects the values he says he would uphold if elected. That includes a focus on affordability and increased access to health care. Speaking with the Texas Public Radio program Texas Matters, Pulido said both Democrats and Republicans have been preoccupied with corporate interests, and he wants to refocus on the issues impacting real voters.
"I had aspirations when I was younger to one day run for office, but music got in the way and I followed that path for 30 years," he said.
Pulido has been a mainstay of Tejano music —a genre blending traditional regional Mexican elements with country, pop and conjunto influences — for more than three decades, but his family's musical roots go back even further. His maternal grandfather, Mario Montes, played accordion in the seminal norteño duo Los Donneños, which began performing throughout the Rio Grande Valley in the 1940s. Pulido's father, Roberto Pulido, led a popular conjunto group for decades.
As the younger Pulido told the magazine Texas Monthly's podcast Viva Tejano in 2024, he grew up playing saxophone in the school band in Edinburg, Texas. As a teenager, he filled in with his dad's band when needed, but he didn't have plans to launch a singing career. In fact, he was initially pursuing a degree in political science at St. Mary's University in San Antonio. According to Pulido, this is when he recorded a song with his father that began to gain traction, and he received competing offers from two record labels. In 1995, he signed a contract with EMI Latin (which would later become Capitol Latin) and dropped out of school to become a full-time musician.
At that time in the mid-90s, Tejano was booming, in great part thanks to the international success of Selena Quintanilla. Although Pulido is often referenced as a star from Tejano's "Golden Age," he told Texas Monthly he actually began his recording career after Selena's murder, which marked a turning point in the genre.
"After Selena, Tejano changed because there was a profound sadness," Pulido said. "When she died, it was so impactful that I think to this day, we haven't really recovered fully."
Still, Pulido's first album Desvelado was a success. It was certified platinum by the RIAA and spurred a major hit with its eponymous title track, a Tex-Mex style cumbia in which the singer recounts his sleepless nights over an unattainable love. Pulido continued growing in popularity, and was crowned male entertainer of the year at the Tejano Music Awards for three consecutive years, from 1998 to 2000.
He went on to release more than a dozen albums in the following decades, racking up a string of both Latin Grammy and Grammy nominations. Although he was not a fluent Spanish speaker when he launched his career, he told Texas Monthly he later dedicated himself to mastering the language and gaining audiences on both sides of the southern border. He also ventured into acting.
In 2023, with the global pop explosion of regional Mexican music, Pulido began performing a mashup of "Desvelado" and Grupo Frontera and Bad Bunny's hit song "Un x100to" at his concerts. Not long after, Grupo Frontera invited Pulido to perform both songs with them at a concert in Edinburg, nodding to the intergenerational success of musica mexicana.
In November of last year, Pulido won the Latin Grammy for best Tejano album for his project Una Tuya Una Mia (Por La Puerta Grande). During his acceptance speech, he reaffirmed his decision to retire from music and dedicated the award to all of the young people from Texas who will carry the Tejano genre forward. In a recent interview with Jorge and Paola Ramos for their podcast The Moment, Pulido said he'd been looking back on his legacy and decided it was time to move in a different direction.
"I'm 52 years old. What do I want my life to mean? What world do I want to leave my kids with?" he said. "Now where we're at at this time and place, I really feel like our democracy is in danger."