The Latin Grammy award winning Tejano music star Bobby Pulido won the Democratic primary against Ada Cuellar, an emergency physician, CBS News projects.
Pulido now faces an uphill battle in unseating the Republican Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz. The congressional district’s boundaries were redrawn in 2025 as part of the mid-decade redistricting efforts to further favor Republicans requested by President Trump.
De La Cruz flipped the Hispanic-majority district in 2022 that was once a traditionally blue seat, and Mr. Trump then won by 18 points in 2024. But in elections that have taken place across the country since then, Latino voters have shown to swing to the left, including in ruby-red precincts in Texas where Democrats had not won in over 40 years.
The race for congressional District 15 is one both Republicans and Democrats are closely watching with strategists telling CBS News that it will take a Democrat with a strong name ID, like Pulido, and a candidate who can appeal to conservative Latinos.
Pulido’s bid was boosted by close to $1 million in outside spending from Blue Dog Action’s political arm, a moderate political operation.