WASHINGTON — Democratic congressional candidate Bobby Pulido is bringing new life to his party’s hopes of flipping a key South Texas district, starting as a household name from his decades as a Tejano musician and projecting a moderate image he says is grounded in the region’s culture.
But Pulido has been dogged by a series of headlines regarding his former bandmate, Frankie Caballero, a registered sex offender whom Pulido toured with for years as his accordionist, despite a lengthy rap sheet that includes a conviction for indecent sexual contact with a child. Pulido has maintained he was not aware Caballero was a sex offender, with his campaign saying he only knew Caballero struggled with addiction.
The Democrat’s ties with his troubled ex-bandmate, and whether voters are turned off by them, could shape the outcome of his high-profile challenge to Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Edinburg.
De La Cruz has handily dispatched Democratic challengers since her first election in 2022, and her district, which runs from Hidalgo County up to rural areas east of San Antonio, favored President Donald Trump by an 18-point margin in 2024.
But Pulido, a first-time candidate, has made the race competitive, running as an outsider and telling voters he would focus on the needs of South Texas rather than partisan allegiance. In a leaked audio clip obtained by Punchbowl News, De La Cruz said an internal poll she’d commissioned had found her up by only 1 point, tracking with public polling that has shown Latino voters — who make up about three-quarters of the district’s eligible voting population — turning away from Trump.
Pulido has maintained that the Caballero stories are a distraction from the issues of the race, such as high gas prices, the cost of healthcare and De La Cruz’s pro-Trump voting record. But De La Cruz and Republicans say Pulido’s affiliation with Caballero is disturbing and that they find his denials unconvincing.
“South Texans care about our families and our communities, and this November, we will hold Bobby Pulido accountable for his depravity and corruption,” a De La Cruz campaign spokesperson said.
Pulido’s biggest musical hit, the 1995 single “Desvelado,” featured Caballero on accordion by happenstance. He landed the gig, Pulido recalled in an interview with the Houston Chronicle, because the keyboard player who was supposed to record what became the accordion part with the band never showed up to the studio.
The two went on to tour and perform together over the course of Pulido’s career. Caballero, according to Pulido’s campaign, was a needs-based contractor hired over short stints.
In the meantime, Caballero, a native of the McAllen area, racked up over a dozen criminal charges in Hidalgo County starting in the 1990s, ranging from marijuana possession and burglary to multiple sex crimes, though many were ultimately dismissed or disposed. In 1994, he was arrested and indicted by a grand jury for sexual assault — a charge that was dismissed years later.
In 2014, Caballero was convicted of indecent sexual contact with an eight-year old girl and sentenced to four years in prison.
After Caballero got out, he went back to performing with Pulido — including at a benefit for an Edinburg middle school in 2018 where children were invited. The performance was first reported by Axios.
“I find it unconscionable that Mr. Pulido’s campaign is dismissing parents’ concerns as ‘nothing’ while refusing to answer basic questions about his decades-long relationship with a serial child predator,” De La Cruz said in a statement after Axios reported that Pulido and Caballero performed at a middle school benefit. “His ‘I didn’t know’ excuse is simply not believable.”
Pulido’s campaign said Caballero was a contractor hired by Pulido’s management company, which did not conduct a background check — a practice the campaign said is common in the music industry. Pulido, according to his campaign manager, knew Caballero struggled with addiction but was unaware he was a sex offender.
The two performed together, according to concert footage, as recently as 2021. A spokesperson for Pulido’s campaign said his management company learned that same year that Caballero had “engaged in domestic abuse,” upon which he was “fired immediately and ties were severed.” Pulido and his management team found out about the accordionist’s sex offender status when it was first reported in the media earlier this year.
“Bobby Pulido has been a public figure for over 30 years, he is an open book and has been completely transparent about this from day one — he did not know about Caballero’s sex offense charges and found out about his charges the same way everyone else did: the New York Post,” the campaign spokesperson said.
Later that year, Caballero was again charged with indecency with a child by sexual contact, as well as attempting to commit aggravated sexual assault against a child.
Caballero also was arrested in 2021 for failing to register as a sex offender — a charge that was ultimately dismissed. When he got out on bond for that charge, “Bobby Pulido Band” was listed as his employer on the bond form.
Pulido has alluded to Caballero’s criminal history before, saying in a 2024 interview it was a “shame” his bandmate “just can’t stay out of trouble.”
In 2018, Pulido, performing with Caballero, made a joke onstage that his accordionist “worked at Penn State,” adding that he was “just kidding.”
And in a 2019 interview in Spanish, Pulido, discussing Caballero, said that early in his career, he “went to get [Caballero] out of jail”, using a slang word for ‘jail’ similar to ‘the slammer.’ He did not specify which charge had put Caballero behind bars in this instance, nor did he say when this happened. The comments were first reported by the New York Post.
Gabriel V. Cárdenas for The Texas Tribune Credit: Jaime Monzon
Pulido’s campaign spokesperson said his comments referred to having given Caballero a chance to perform — and that the abundance of headlines is evidence of the Democrat’s momentum.
“Bobby Pulido did not post his bail or pick him up from jail or prison — Republicans admittedly saw Monica De La Cruz polling neck and neck with Bobby in a district they rigged for her to win, so they’re lying because they have nothing else to run on,” the spokesperson said. “This desperate smear campaign won’t distract South Texas voters from the fact Monica voted to gut their healthcare, raise their grocery bills, and drive up gas prices.”
But De La Cruz has continued to press the case that Pulido is untrustworthy.
“The only reason Bobby Pulido thought he could get away with bailing this serial pedophile out of jail and marching him into a public school is the same reason he thinks he’s entitled to a seat in Congress: he’s a silver-spooned celebrity, a creature of the corrupt establishment that got rich while the Valley got poorer,” the De La Cruz campaign said.
Pulido’s campaign has depicted the Caballero stories as hit pieces that serve as evidence that his campaign is resonating.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which includes Texas’ 15th Congressional District in its target list of flippable districts, is standing behind Pulido.
DCCC chair Suzan DelBene, a Democratic representative from Oregon, referred The Texas Tribune to Pulido’s comments on the Caballero accusations, but said she believes De La Cruz’s campaign “is scared.”
“[Pulido] has been a strong voice on important issues, like cost of living and healthcare,” DelBene said in an interview. “He’s talking about them head on, and people are hearing crickets from Monica De La Cruz. That’s why he’s in a strong position.”
Disclosure: Cine El Rey has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.
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