It took all of two minutes for Bobby Pulido’s electoral stealth weapon to come into play.
asserted
weapon → take → play
The Tejano music star turned Democratic congressional candidate had barely begun canvassing in the high school football stadium in Edinburg, Texas, when a 15-year-old girl came rushing up to him.
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girl → turn → him
“Señor Pulido! Señor Pulido!” she cried.
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she → cry → ?
A few months ago, she told him, he had made a surprise appearance at her quinceañera, the coming-of-age girls’ 15th birthday party that is a rite of passage in these US borderlands.
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that → tell → borderlands
He had serenaded her with Desvelado, his blockbuster love song, which though released three decades ago retains a treasured place in Tejano – that is Hispanic Texan – culture.
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which → serenade → culture
The brief encounter gave a glimpse into one of the key dynamics of Pulido’s bid to flip Texas’s 15th congressional district.
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encounter → give → district
He calls it the “quinceañera strategy”.
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He → call → it
The tactic was handed to him, inadvertently, by his rival, the two-term incumbent Republican congresswoman Monica De La Cruz.
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tactic → hand → rival
In March, she posted a video deriding her opponent as a lowly quinceañera singer.
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she → post → singer
The election, she said, “isn’t about who you want performing at your niece’s quinceañera.
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you → say → quinceañera
It’s about who you trust with your family’s future.”
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you → ’ → future
Pulido pounced.
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Pulido → pounce → ?
He counter-
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He → counter → ?
posted his own video in which he accused De La Cruz of belittling a cherished local tradition and encouraged families in the district planning a quinceañera to invite him.
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he → post → him
“I’d be honored to stop by and celebrate with you,” he said.
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he → honor → you
Within 24 hours, Pulido’s campaign had been inundated with over 1,000 invitations.
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campaign → inundate → invitations
By the time the Guardian went canvassing with him in September, that number had surpassed 5,000.
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number → go → 5,000
He has now performed at 81 quinceañeras and counting.
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He → perform → quinceañeras
Each one is attended by scores of family and friends, most of whom are eligible voters and many of whom livestream the event on their smartphones, broadcasting it to additional scores of eligible voters.
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many → attend → voters
“She presented us with an opportunity for a very unique kind of field plan,” Abel Prado, Pulido’s campaign manager, said.
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Prado → present → plan
The ‘quinceañera strategy’
Pulido, 53, is hoping to convert the quinceañera strategy and the rest of the tireless retail politics that he is doing into a winning political formula.
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he → hop → formula
His mission: to take back the congressional seat, and in the process both help the national Democratic party regain control of the US House and teach it a lesson or two about Mexican American politics.
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party → take → politics
Much is riding on his success.
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Much → rid → success
It’s not just that flipping Texas 15 could give Democrats the edge they need to take back control of the House of Representatives.
uncertain
they → ’ → Representatives
The stakes are also huge for the Rio Grande Valley itself, the overwhelmingly Hispanic border region in south Texas that for over a century was solidly Democratic but swung hard for Donald Trump in 2024.
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that → swing → 2024
Trump won the district, which is 81% Mexican American and which runs for over 300 miles from the border to San Antonio, by 18 points.
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which → win → points
How Pulido fares in the November midterm elections could have ripple effects for fellow Democrat James Talarico’s currently neck-and-neck fight for a US Senate seat against the state’s scandal-ridden Republican attorney general Ken Paxton.
uncertain
fares → fare → general
And in the widest sense, Pulido’s message has bearings on the national Democratic party as it debates how to counter the dramatic inroads made by Trump two years ago when he smashed records and garnered 55% of Texas’s Hispanic vote.
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he → have → vote
Pulido made sure to display his Tejano stripes as he strutted around the Edinburg stadium, while cheerleaders and a marching band filled the night air with colour and noise.
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cheerleaders → make → colour
Dressed in jeans and denim shirt, cowboy boots and hat, he moved confidently through the crowd of high-school football fans.
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he → dress → fans
He shook the hand of everyone he met, chatting to supporters on both sides of the bleachers – a calculated move as both high school teams, Sabrecats and Yellowjackets, are in the 15th district.
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teams → shake → district
(The Sabrecats won 31-14.)
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Sabrecats → win → ?
And yet almost everyone in attendance was too young to vote – so what was the point?
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point → vote → attendance
“To win re-election,” Pulido quipped, without missing a beat.
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Pulido → win → beat
Then, with more reflection, he added: “If you treat kids good, their parents will like you.”
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parents → add → you
Pulido has a catchphrase: “Any occasion, big or small.”
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Pulido → have → catchphrase
He means it.
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He → mean → it
The football game was the 526th campaign event he had attended in person.
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he → attend → person
When Pulido sat down to talk with the Guardian, he emphasised accessibility was a critical element of his campaign.
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accessibility → sit → campaign
It’s his answer, he said, to the increasingly polarised left-right media bubbles that keep voters divided.
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that → ’ → voters
…and 116 more, not listed.
The Aporia
