Bobby Pulido, the Democratic nominee in one of Texas's most competitive House races, is facing mounting questions about his years-long association with a bandmate convicted of sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl and whether he told voters the truth about when he knew.
The trouble for Pulido centers on a 2019 YouTube interview in which the Tejano star bragged about helping Frankie Caballero, a registered sex offender, get out of jail, calling him a "master" musician. Caballero had been convicted in May 2014 of a second-degree felony for indecent contact with an 8-year-old girl, according to the Texas Public Sex Offender registry. He served four years in prison before his release, according to the Texas Tribune. Pulido went back on the road with him from 2018 to 2021, the two performing together in Kansas City, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, and Tucson, according to YouTube videos reviewed by the Texas Tribune and reported April 2.
Pulido's campaign insists he had no idea. "Bobby was never made aware of Caballero's sex offender registration and would never knowingly associate with anyone with that kind of history," a campaign spokesman said. The candidate says he cut ties immediately once management learned of the conviction in 2021.
The 2019 video makes that claim harder to sustain. In it, Pulido discusses his efforts to get Caballero released, describing him in glowing terms, years after the conviction and after a 2018 concert at which, according to Fox News, Pulido referred to Caballero as a "bad man" and cracked a joke about his bandmate having attended "Penn State." Those are not the words of someone unaware of a friend's criminal history.
The settings matter as much as the timeline. Pulido ran a campaign built around performing at quinceañeras, the coming-of-age celebrations for teenage Latina girls across South Texas, and Caballero was on stage with him at those events during the post-conviction touring years, according to the Tribune's reporting. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, the Republican incumbent Pulido is trying to unseat, said the record is disqualifying. "He spent years knowingly bringing convicted pedophiles into South Texas family events," De La Cruz said in a statement reported by Fox News.
Pulido won the Democratic primary in March with 67.5 percent of the vote, drawing national attention as a two-time Latin Grammy winner with strong name recognition in the Rio Grande Valley. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee added him to its "Red to Blue" program, signaling serious investment in the race. De La Cruz's own internal polling showed her leading by just one point, according to leaked audio from a private fundraiser reported by the Daily Beast, in a district Trump carried by 18 points in 2024.
The National Republican Congressional Committee escalated the story further in May, publishing a report alleging a second separate individual named Frankie Caballero Jr., also listed on the Texas sex offender registry, had ties to Pulido's orbit. The NRCC pointed to Facebook photos showing Caballero Jr. at a Pulido family fundraiser event, though Pulido's campaign said the candidate "has never toured or performed with Frankie Caballero Jr." and has no personal relationship with him. The claim has not been independently confirmed by a major newspaper. The NRCC labeled the combined pattern a "pedophile band."
What is confirmed, across reporting by the Texas Tribune, Fox News, and KSAT, is this: Caballero's criminal record extends beyond the 2014 conviction to include cocaine possession and assault by strangulation. Pulido first hired him in 1995 for his debut album "Desvelado," months after Caballero had been released on bond following a 1994 sex assault case, according to court records. That history was available when Pulido brought him back after prison in 2018.
Pulido has not addressed the 2019 video directly or explained what he meant by helping Caballero get out of jail. His campaign did not respond to follow-up questions about the timeline. With both parties spending heavily on TX-15, how voters in the Valley weigh that unanswered question against Pulido's celebrity appeal could determine whether De La Cruz holds one of the cycle's most-watched seats.
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