In 2018, Texas Democrat Bobby Pulido — a former Tejano music star running for Congress in Texas's 15th District — organized a benefit concert at a local middle school. One of his bandmates on stage that day was Frank Caballero, an accordionist who had been convicted of indecent sexual contact with an 8-year-old girl and sentenced to four years in prison.
A registered sex offender. Performing for middle schoolers. Brought there by a Democrat running for office.
The details get worse the further you read. Caballero wasn't some distant associate Pulido could claim ignorance about. According to the reporting, Pulido spent years performing alongside Caballero and was allegedly caught on tape bragging about protecting his bandmate. Years. Shoulder to shoulder with a man convicted of sexually assaulting a child.
The family connections don't help Pulido's case either. His great-uncle, Rene Guerra, served as Hidalgo County District Attorney — and under Guerra's watch, separate sexual assault charges against Caballero were dismissed. Whether that's incompetence or something worse is a question South Texas voters deserve an answer to.
NRCC spokesman Christian Martinez didn't mince words. "Creepy @PulidoForTexas spent years shoulder-to-shoulder with a convicted child predator, brought him into schools with kids, and bragged on tape about protecting his pedo bandmate," Martinez said. "It's disgusting, disqualifying, and exactly why South Texans will reject Pulido in November."
Pulido is challenging Republican incumbent Monica De La Cruz for the 15th District seat this November. And the concert isn't even the only controversy trailing him. Previous reporting flagged a music video Pulido appeared in featuring cross-dressing and simulated public masturbation, along with pornographic material shared on his social media accounts. This is the candidate Democrats chose to run.
Now, campaigns involve opposition research. Skeletons get dragged out. That's the game. But there's a difference between a bad tweet from 2012 and physically bringing a man convicted of molesting an 8-year-old into a building full of children. One is embarrassing. The other is a decision that should disqualify you from holding any position of public trust.
The standard response in situations like these is some version of "I didn't know" or "mistakes were made." But the timeline makes that difficult. Caballero's conviction was a matter of public record. His sex offender registration was a matter of public record. Anyone with a phone and thirty seconds could have found it. Pulido either knew and didn't care, or didn't bother to check the criminal history of the man he was bringing to perform in front of children.
Neither option belongs anywhere near a congressional office.