March 11th , 2026 Len’s Political Note #796 Bobby Pulido Texas 15
2026 General Election
Bobby Pulido
President Donald J. Trump urged the Texas legislature to redistrict to elect more Republican Members of Congress. Good soldiers, they did exactly that. With their plan they expected to add a net of five Republican seats. That addition, they thought, could preserve the Republican majority in Congress.
The Texas revision set off a national movement and countermovement. Governor Gavin Newsom organized a constitutional amendment in California that would add a net of five Democratic seats in Congress. Ohio has developed a plan and Florida is contemplating one to add Republican seats. Colorado and Virginia and working on ways to add Democratic seats.
A few state legislatures did not join in. Indiana Republicans rejected Donald Trump’s requests and his threats to primary legislators who opposed him. The State Senate Majority Leader in heavily Democratic Maryland continues to resist eliminating the last Republican Congressional seat in that state.
This controversy is the context for Bobby Pulido’s candidacy for Texas 15. If he can flip Texas 15 from Republican to Democrat, he will erode the Texas Plan. With no other surprise results, his victory would reduce the Texas plan to flipping four seats.
Bobby Pulido needed two victories in this district which is more than 80% Hispanic, is mostly Roman Catholic. and extends narrowly due north from an area across the border from Reynoso, Mexico, passing east of San Antonio and stopping short of Austin.
Bobby Pulido got his victory in the primary – defeating Ada Cuellar. She is an emergency room doctor who has recently picked up a law degree. On Primary day the New York Times asked: “Will Hispanic voters who flocked to President Trump choose a moderate Democrat who could appeal to socially conservative voters or lean left at a time when the administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown is proving unpopular?” The people of Texas 15 answered by giving the moderate Democrat in question, Bobby Pulido, a 35 point victory.
Bobby Pulido’s next task is to defeat the incumbent Republican Monica De La Cruz. De La Cruz is vulnerable. She has been seen as vulnerable every time she has run for Congress. In 2020, a realtor and an insurance agent, she lost to the incumbent Vincente Gonzalez – 50.5 – 47.6.
In 2022, Vincente Gonzalez left Texas 15 to run for the more Democratic District 34. De La Cruz was elected in District 15 by a comfortable 53.3 to 44.8. In 2024, De La Cruz again defeated Michelle Vallejo handily – 57.1% to 42.9%.
Why is it that De La Cruz is vulnerable in 2026? She will have the same personal vulnerabilities she had before. She had a messy divorce in which her husband accused her of abusing his daughter from a previous marriage and then asking the voters to sympathize with her and for the hospitalized teenager. She has won elections despite her family troubles.
Now she has some votes to defend. She promised to cut health care costs and voted for Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill which cut Medicaid and raised costs for many who get their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. The cost of food is higher; the cost of electricity has gone up; and, in the tariff wars, Texas farmers have lost revenue.
De La Cruz has a president to defend. In 2024, Donald Trump appeared to offer hope to Hispanics in South Texas and elsewhere. His popularity has dropped, not only because of the cost of food and health care. His popularity has dropped as he detained and even deported many Hispanics who were neither criminals nor recent undocumented immigrants. Those people who saw hope in Trump now see a despot targeting people like themselves. What’s more, that targeting is marked by a consistent cruelty that is just plain scary.
Perhaps De La Cruz is more vulnerable than she has been in the past few elections because she will be facing a candidate other than Michelle Vallejo, a young woman returned home after going off to Columbia and graduating from that Ivy League School. Vallejo’s politics may have resembled New York politics too much for South Texans.
De La Cruz may be more vulnerable because she will be facing Bobby Pulido. He is a representative of Tejano ethnic and cultural pride. Bobby Pulido is the son of Roberto “El Primo” Pulido, a Tejano singer who was almost as popular as his son. Following in his father’s footsteps, Bobby Pulido has been a singer, songwriter, and guitarist. As Tejano music became less popular even among his ardent followers, he turned to acting – first in a made for television film, then in a telenovela, and more.
In 2024, he announced a farewell tour that would begin in January, 2025. In this tour, he said farewell to being an entertainer. In September, 2025, he announced his candidacy for Texas 15.
Bobby Pulido has an unconventional background for a politician. It is not so much that his field was entertainment. From Ronald Reagan to Al Franken to Donald Trump, American politics has not been foreign territory for entertainers. What is distinctive about Bobby Pulido is that he has been a story teller, telling stories that preserve his Tejano heritage. That was true of his televised conversation with his father in 2023, his TED talks after that, and it was true of his music and his acting.
As a candidate for Congress, Bobby Pulido does not so much have specific policies as he has goals:
On the economy he says: I will stand up to the big greedy corporations that have been raising prices on Americans who are already struggling to pay for basic necessities. I will also focus on cutting the red tape that strangles small businesses because down here the heart of our economy is driven by small local businesses, working families and entrepreneurs.
On agriculture he says: Tariffs and trade wars are driving up costs and closing off opportunities, leaving too many of our families struggling to keep up. I believe in strong, commonsense agricultural policy that protects our natural resources, supports rural families, and keeps safe, affordable, American-grown food on every table. Protecting farmers and ranchers is good economics, but it’s also a matter of national security.
On immigration and immigrants he says: I believe we can secure the border without destroying families and our local economy in the process. We can more effectively attack the flow of fentanyl and other cartel driven drug supply lines into our country. ….. American businesses need a reliable workforce…..we need an immigration system that’s tough but fair, and works for the Valley and South Texas as much as it works for the rest of America.
On healthcare he says: I believe that, like Social Security, Medicare is a promise and a critical safety net that we have to keep and make stronger. We also need real leadership not more political rhetoric if we are ever going to succeed in bringing down costs by negotiating better returns for what we spend on healthcare and prescription drugs.
Bobby Pulido adds, about healthcare, his plans, and his opponent: our current representative took orders from her party leaders and voted for a so-called “big beautiful bill” that put Medicaid and South Texas seniors at risk. I will never vote against South Texas families just because my party or anyone else tells me to. I know that I will not always have all the right answers, but I’ll always have your back.
Have Bobby Pulido’s back as Texas swings into general election season. DONATE This is a seat Trump and Texas Republicans have been counting on. Texas Democrats can flip it.
The other Texas Seat that can be flipped
Texas 23 Katy Padilla Stout won the Democratic nomination. Initially an elementary school teacher, she got a law degree and has a practice primarily representing children in the foster care system. Her husband is a prosecutor. Her political focus is making the economy fairer – through fixes in the tax system, the medical system, and support for the needy. The Republican incumbent was in a virtual tie for the nomination, but withdrew as he acknowledged an affair with a staffer who committed suicide. Katy Padilla Stout’s Republican opponent is gun manufacturer and gun advocate Brandon Herrera. With your help, it is not out of the question for Katy Padilla Stout to regain this seat for the Democrats. DONATE. Make that victory happen and reduce the Republican net gain in Congressional seats to three.
Two Texas Seats that Republicans counted on, but Democrats can protect
Texas 28. Henry Cuellar was pardoned by Donald Trump for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from Azerbaijan by way of a Mexican bank. Trump may think it ungrateful of Henry Cuellar to remain in the race for his reelection. First elected to Congress in 2004, Henry Cuellar has brought a lot of resources to his low income district. A rare anti-abortion Democrat, he was crucial in moving Joe Biden’s infrastructure proposal to passage. He has been a supporter of clean energy and LGBT rights. His Republican opponent is a former Democrat and County Judge (county exec). DONATE to Henry Cuellar’s campaign. Keep him in Congress for another two years. The Republicans were planning on winning this seat. Get that Republican net gain down to two.
Texas 34 Vicente Gonzalez is a business oriented Democrat. A high school drop-out, he got himself a GED, an Associate’s Degree, a BA, and a law degree. First elected to Texas 15 in 2016, he switched to Texas 34 in 2022 after redistricting. Notwithstanding his cultural conservatism, he a strong opponent of Donald Trump. During his 2024 campaign, he spoke as plainly as possible: “I don’t understand how Mexican Americans can vote for Trump. It’s clearly a vote against self-interest. And yes, it would be like the Jewish community voting for Hitler before the atrocities he caused. That would never happen. And Latinos need [to] wake up and see a tyrant on the horizon.” Vicente Gonzalez is a cultural conservative who believes trans women should not play women’s sports. Whatever his personal view of abortion is, he did not want the Democrats to advertise Democratic support for abortion rights in his district. DONATE to his campaign. If he can defeat the much more conservative Republican attorney Eric Flores, we will get that Republican net gain down to one.
Is there are route to getting the Republican net gain to zero or even to make a gain? Here are a couple of interesting possibilities
Texas 21. Biologist Kristin Hook is the Democratic nominee. A child of a low income mixed family, she is conscious of the differences in opportunity afforded to whites and Hispanics. A good student and a hard worker, with the help of scholarships and student loans and some time with Teach for America, she got a BA from University of Texas – Austin and a PhD in animal biology from Cornell.
Kristin Hook is running for Congress, she says, to speak up for science. An exciting candidate, it is a challenge to match the excitement of the Republican – former Major league baseball All-Star Mark Teixeira. Right wing figure Chip Roy abandoned this seat to run for Attorney General. Teixeira, who demonstrated political interests only recently and after he moved from the New York Yankees back home to Texas, has made his conservatism clear. After the first killing by ICE, he expressed his support for ICE. He describes his two priorities for Congress – to prevent trans women from participating in women’s sports and ensuring that photo IDs are required for voting. DONATE to Kristin Hook. She knows what she is doing.
Texas 25. Dione Sims is Opal Lee’s granddaughter. Opal Lee was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom (not by Donald Trump) for leading the effort to make Juneteenth a national holiday. Dione Sims, a graduate of Texas Wesleyan, left her position as a marketing consultant to share in the founding and to manage the National Juneteenth Museum.
Dione Sims entered the race for Congress expressing concern about civil rights, wages, healthcare, and education. She is running against 76 year old Roger Williams. A former minor league baseball player and TCU baseball coach, he inherited his father’s automobile dealership and began his political career working as a fund raiser for George W Bush. As a member of Congress, he opposed gay marriage and supported Muslim bans. The House Ethics committee has had to look into a few of his ethical issues over the years. DONATE to Dione Sims’ campaign. It is time upset the Texan Roger Williams. I say that as someone born and bred in Rhode Island where the state’s founder Roger Williams, who was committed to respecting the diversity of religious beliefs, was revered.
