Pulido wins primary

BY FRANCISCO E. JIMENEZ

Staff Writer

PHARR — The polls had been closed for over an hour, and early voting numbers had yet to be released, but the mood inside the Krystall Event Center was already festive.

As Tejano music blared through speakers, a crowd of supporters crowed around Bobby Pulido — many taking pictures and recording video on their phones.

A few minutes after 8 p.m., the room erupted with cheers as a large screen on one of the walls began displaying some results from the Texas Secretary of State website showing Pulido in the lead

Bobby Pulido is hugged by mother Diana Pulido on stage as he celebrates his victory as the Democratic candidate for Congressional District 15 at the Krystall Event Center on Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Pharr.

Joel Martinez | jmartinez@themonitor.com

Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Texas, speaks to the media at the Capitol in Washington, Sept. 29, 2023.

AP Photo | Mariam Zuhaib

for the 15th Congressional District Democratic race with 1,241 votes over Ada Cuellar, who at the time had 589.

Tuesday evening marked a milestone for Pulido who’d made a name for himself as a successful Tejano musician. After nearly three decades in the music industry, Pulido’s career was now heading in a new direction — a direction toward politics.

As the numbers slowly trickled in, his career shift appeared closer to becoming reality.

First he needed to seal a victory in the March 3 primary election, and that meant staying focused on Cuellar, a Harlingenbased emergency physician, before turning his attention toward U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Edinburg, who ran unopposed in the Republican primary.

Taking a brief moment to chat with media members before the final results, when asked by another reporter about which congressional committees he’d be effective in, Pulido said that he wanted to stay focused on the task at hand.

“I don’t want to get ahead of myself,” Pulido said. “We worked really hard to get to this point. I want to see how it goes and enjoy the night, and then refocus on that.”

“But yes, I’ve thought about it, but I’m not going to tell you,” he joked. “I don’t want to jinx myself.”

Just after 9 p.m., early voting numbers from Hidalgo County were released. They showed Pulido leading with 20,126 votes, or 66.68% of the vote, over Cuellar’s 10,055 votes, or 33.32% of the vote.

Not long after, the music stopped and Claudia Lopez took to the stage to announce that Pulido had officially been declared the winner of the primary and earned the Democratic nomination for the 15th Congressional District.

Pulido took the stage with his family to address his supporters and deliver his victory speech.

“It isn’t the end of anything. Tonight is the beginning,” Pulido said. “The people of South Texas have spoken, and I’m honored to accept your nomination to be your next Democratic congressman. And before anything else, I just want to say thank you.”

He thanked his family and his campaign staff before taking a moment to acknowledge Cuellar.

“I respect my opponent, and I wish her well on her future endeavors,” Pulido said. “Campaigns aren’t easy. Now it’s time to come together. The real fight’s ahead, and I hope she and her supporters will join us in defeating Monica De La Cruz in November.”

Not long after Pulido finished delivering his victory speech, De La Cruz released a statement congratulating Cuellar on her campaign, and saying that she was cheated by “an establishment that spent over a million dollars to push her aside.”

“Now that same establishment thinks it can buy this seat with a celebrity who brags about living in a foreign country and calls himself a ‘Winter Texan,’” she said. “South Texas is my home. I’m raising my kids here. I feel many of the same pressures local families face — and I show up for them every single day. That’s why I’ve worked across the aisle to secure hundreds of millions of dollars to rescue our local economy, fought to double the child tax credit, and stood up to D.C. elites to defend Medicare and Social Security.

“I look forward to contrasting that record with my opponent’s disturbing history of demeaning the very families he’s now asking to vote for him.”

Del La Cruz, who is seeking her third term in office, ended the evening with 30,003 votes, according to the Texas Secretary of State. In Hidalgo County, despite running unopposed, she secured 11,111 votes.

Overall, Pulido earned 36,820 votes, or 67.54% of the vote, over Cuellar’s 17,698 votes, or 32.46%. In Hidalgo County, Pulido earned 27,845 votes, or 65.99%, while Cuellar received 14,353 votes, or 34.01%.

After delivering his speech, Pulido took a moment to reflect on his victory and the path forward.

“It’s the first step. I’m enjoying it, but the mission is different, and the mission is November,” Pulido said. “When I put my mind to do something, I do it, and we’re going to work really hard. We’ve already been working hard.”

Pulido said that he has been running a general election campaign because he said that his focus has been on what’s to come in November.

“I wanted a general election message, and we have not deviated,” he said. “We have not shifted. The message is the same since day one.”

That message, he said, is trying to make health care more affordable, working to address immigration in a way that doesn’t hurt small businesses, and addressing the growing water issue.

With his primary victory secured, Pulido faces a tough road ahead in a district that favors Republican candidates. When asked about De La Cruz and the success that her campaign has had, Pulido didn’t mince words.

“She won’t be comfortable this time,” he said. “We’re working really hard. We’ve already gone to all 11 counties (in District 15), and we did this all before the primary. That’s unheard of. And we’ve actually drawn a lot of people up there. We’ve drawn a lot of big, big numbers. We’re looking at the returns from the northern counties, and the Democratic votes are way up than what they used to be. That gives me a lot of hope that we’re working in the right way.”