Winner, Winner: Bobby Pulido on being a conservative Democrat
The Tejano star turned congressional candidate makes the case for a more culturally fluent, middle-winning Democratic Party.
In today’s episode of the Winner, Winner podcast, I’m in conversation with Bobby Pulido, who’s running for Congress in Texas’ 15th congressional district against Monica de la Cruz.
Bobby is a native South Texan and a Grammy award-winning Tejano music artist. His hits and star status have helped define modern Tejano music and solidified his reputation as a cultural ambassador for the region.
TX-15 is one of the newly-drawn congressional districts that the Texas GOP is betting will result in a Republican hold. It has a PVI of R+7, and Trump won the district in 2024 by 18 points. But Hispanic voters in South Texas have shown significant volatility in recent cycles, and recent polling has shown meaningful movement away from Donald Trump among Hispanic voters, creating a real opening in this district that may not be as red as recent results suggest.
The district was also recently added to DCCC’s Districts in Play list, a possible precursor to being included in the Red to Blue program, an indication they view the district as a key battleground.
On the Winner, Winner podcast, we speak with the Democratic Party candidates who prove they can win the middle, beat Republicans on Trump turf, and recalibrate the party to the median voter. Here at Welcome, we work to strengthen the centrist faction that wins and governs responsibly. We support centrist Democrats running in Trump districts through WelcomePAC.
We wrote about Bobby when we endorsed him late last year:
Bobby Pulido is a legendary Tejano musician (check him out!) and small business owner, making him the ultimate political outsider. He represents a new-generation challenger whose appeal aligns with Welcome’s belief that Democrats can regain ground in South Texas by focusing on costs, community safety, and resisting the status quo that has frustrated voters. In a district Republicans redrew to be safe (+18 Trump), Pulido’s deep cultural ties and name ID offer a unique opportunity to reclaim the working-class vote.
Pulido has criticized Biden’s open borders policies, called out the use of the term “Latinx,” and highlighted his faith and support for American energy, calling himself a “Tejano Democrat.”
Bobby will be speaking at this year’s WelcomeFest, so be sure to mark your calendar for June 3 so you can join us in D.C. in person.
Be sure to listen to the whole Winner, Winner episode on YouTube, but check out this quote from my conversation with Bobby when I asked about his response to people who ask him why he’s not just running as a Republican, since he’s someone who identifies as a conservative Democrat.
I am a Democrat, but I am conservative. I want to make sure I can conserve the traditions my dad passed on to me and raise my sons the way my dad raised me, because I happen to like it. So I want to conserve that. Is that such a bad thing for me? I don’t think so. The problem with that was saying, well, I’m a conservative Democrat. People look at that and go like, “oh, no, no, then you’re just a MAGA guy.”
No, I’m not.
I’m absolutely not.
A lot of the things about our way of life that we have in South Texas people do not want them to change… And I’m here to tell you that rural America is probably polar opposite [from urban areas] when it comes to change.
They say, “I just want you to make my life better —Don’t change it.”
So we have that divide where as a Democrat, I feel like we have to understand rural America a little bit better.
Bobby is part of our Win the Middle slate of endorsed candidates for the 2026 cycle. You can support Bobby in his race against Monica de la Cruz here.