Texas' 15th District: Monica De La Cruz Calls Herself the Underdog Against Bobby Pulido in a South Texas Seat Trump Won by 18 Points
Reuters' House factbox puts three redrawn South Texas seats in play on Tuesday — and the 15th, where a Tejano music star leads the incumbent in last month's poll, has drawn more than $23 million in outside spending.
When Texas Republicans kicked off the national redistricting fight, they sought to pick up five House seats, Reuters reported in its factbox of the races that could decide the midterms, read by the desk this cycle. Yet three of those seats are in play on Tuesday — all in South Texas. Democratic Representatives Vicente Gonzalez and Henry Cuellar are running in districts President Donald Trump won by 10 points in 2024, a third redrawn district is an open race between Republican Carlos De La Cruz and Democrat Johnny Garcia, and Republican Representative Monica De La Cruz is, in Reuters' word, vulnerable in hers.
De La Cruz's opponent is Tejano music star Bobby Pulido, running to unseat her in a district Trump won by 18 points in 2024. Despite being the incumbent, De La Cruz has insisted she is an underdog running against, in her words, “a rich celebrity from a corrupt political dynasty.” She has attacked Pulido's ties to his band's ex-accordionist, a registered sex offender convicted of indecent sexual contact with a child; Pulido has distanced himself from his former bandmate and said he was unaware the man was a sex offender. Pulido, for his part, has seized on De La Cruz's comment that the race “isn't about who you want performing at your niece's quinceanera,” performing at Latina girls' birthday parties through much of his campaign, and released an ad last week featuring an endorsement from former President Bill Clinton.
The money and the polling say the seat is genuinely contested. Democrats have poured more than $12 million into flipping it and Republicans have spent $11 million to hold it, Reuters reported, and a poll last month showed Pulido leading by 7 points. The district votes Tuesday with the rest of Texas, polls open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
