Before running for Congress, Bobby Pulido was a Tejano music icon : NPR

Bobby Pulido at a campaign event in February.

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When Texas native Bobby Pulido announced he would run for office in the state’s 15th Congressional District, which stretches from the San Antonio border to the Mexico border, many people already knew his name — not as a politician, but as a star of the state’s iconic Tejano music genre.

In September, the same day he received his fifth Latin Grammy nomination, Pulido officially threw his cowboy hat into the ring as the Democratic candidate against incumbent Rep. Monica De La Cruz. Three years earlier, she became the first Republican to flip the historically blue district. During the election campaign, De la Cruz used Pulido’s music as a dig at his opponent, declaring that this election “isn’t about who you want to play at your niece’s quinceañera.” In response, Pulido posted a video on social media highlighting the importance of these celebrations to South Texas communities.

“A quinceañera is not 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-Newsthe back and forth resulted in a flurry of invitations for Pulido to appear at district quinceañeras. Today, 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,” which reflects the values ​​he says he would uphold if elected. This means focusing on affordability and increased access to health care. Talk with the Texas Public Radio Program Texas MattersPulido said Democrats and Republicans are concerned about corporate interests and he wants to refocus on issues impacting real voters.

“When I was younger, I had ambitions 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 young Pulido told the magazine Texas Monthly’the podcast Viva Tejano in 2024, he grew up playing saxophone in the school orchestra in Edinburg, Texas. As a teenager, he would join his father’s band when needed, but he had no plans to pursue a singing career. In fact, he was initially studying political science at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio. According to Pulido, that’s 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 later became Capitol Latin) and abandoned his studies to become a full-time musician.

At that time, in the mid-90s, Tejano was booming, thanks in large part to the international success of Selena Quintanilla. Although Pulido is often cited as a star of Tejano’s “golden era,” he said 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 deep sadness,” Pulido said. “When she died, it had such an impact that I think to this day we haven’t really fully recovered.”

However, Pulido’s first album Desvelado was a success. He was certified platinum by the RIAA and garnered major success with his self-titled song, a Tex-Mex style. cumbia in which the singer recounts his sleepless nights because of an inaccessible love. Pulido continued to grow in popularity and was crowned Male Artist 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 over the next decades, racking up a string of Latin Grammy and Grammy Award nominations. Although he was not fluent in Spanish at the start of his career, he said Texas Monthly he then 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. Shortly after, Grupo Frontera invited Pulido to perform both songs with them at a concert in Edinburgh, a nod 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 the young people in Texas who will advance the Tejano genre. In a recent interview with Jorge and Paola Ramos for their podcast The momentPulido said he looked back on his heritage and decided it was time to go 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 children in?” he said. “Now where we are at this time and place, I really feel like our democracy is in danger.”