Congressional candidate performed with bandmate convicted of sex offense against child

WASHINGTON — South Texas Democratic congressional candidate Bobby Pulido performed with a bandmate who is a registered sex offender convicted of indecent contact with an 8 year old girl, drawing renewed scrutiny from his Republican opponent.

Pulido is challenging Rep. Monica De La Cruz in Texas’ 15th Congressional District, a majority-Hispanic district which runs from McAllen to rural counties east of San Antonio and voted for President Donald Trump by 18 percentage points. He is a well-known Tejano singer who first rose to fame in the 1990s and whose candidacy has excited Democrats in South Texas and Washington alike.

Pulido’s association with accordion player Frankie Caballero was first reported by the New York Post.

Caballero has played accordion onstage with Pulido numerous times, according to the New York Post report — including after his 2014 conviction.

In a statement, Pulido’s campaign manager said the singer was not aware of Caballero’s criminal history.

“Bobby extends his deepest sympathies and support to all of the victims involved,” Pulido campaign manager Abel Prado said in a statement. “Frankie Caballero has long struggled with addiction issues and Bobby Pulido has acknowledged and attempted to help him with that battle.”

Prado said when Pulido’s management learned of Caballero’s criminal history in 2021, he was immediately fired and that relationship was severed.

“Bobby was never made aware of Caballero’s sex offender registration and would never knowingly associate with anyone with that kind of history,” he said.

Prado also said that the hiring of Caballero was done by Pulido’s management company, which did not conduct a background check, in accordance with industry standards.

Republicans, including De La Cruz, have jumped on the report saying this is just the latest piece of evidence that Pulido is morally corrupt.

"My heart goes out to the children who were sexually abused by a close friend and professional associate of Bobby Pulido,” De La Cruz said in a statement. “Despite being caught on tape admitting he knew of this man's criminality and praising him as recently as November, Mr. Pulido now falsely claims to have been unaware of his crimes. These are not South Texas values.”

Pulido said in a November interview with the Houston Chronicle about his music that Caballero, who played on the recording of his 1995 hit “Desvelado,” was a "prolific accordion player” who ended up on the song after the keyboard player who was supposed to be on the track missed the session.

Christian Martinez, a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee, called Pulido “misogynistic.”

“Bobby Pulido’s pattern is clear: bad judgment, worse excuses, and zero accountability,” Martinez said. “Texans deserve someone who can be trusted to protect their families, not someone who spent years sharing the stage with a band of pedophiles and now wants Texans to believe he had no idea."

Pulido has leaned into his music fame and status as a political outsider on the campaign trail, including to withstand attacks related to his musical career. Republicans have jumped on his past social media posts — which include sexist comments and links to pornographic websites — as well as a music video in which he portrays a pervert, as evidence that the Democratic candidate is depraved.

The singer, for his part, has said that the music video is a parody satirizing Latin artist Elvis Crespo. And in a video posted to X on March 22, he called Republican attacks “cheap” and said that much of his Spanish language humor does not translate to English, which “shows just how out of touch they are with our culture.”

“I’ve been in the music business for 30 years and never had a scandal — and I’m proud of that,” Pulido said. “Needless to say, they’re very worried about losing this seat.”

Redistricting changed the boundaries of the 15th Congressional District, but it retained similar partisanship. De La Cruz won the seat by 14% in 2024, but Democrats are bullish about Pulido’s ability to bring Hispanic voters back into the Democratic column. A poll conducted by a Democratic group of the race last fall found Pulido trailing De La Cruz by 3%.

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.