An interesting aspect of the blue wave is the story of Bobby Pulido. His campaign slogan, “I’m not team red, not team blue. I’m team you” says a lot.
José Roberto Pulido Jr. (born April 25, 1973) is an American musician and politician who is the representative-elect from Texas’s 15th congressional district. He is credited with expanding the audience for Tejano music among younger listeners, emerging as a teen idol among Mexican-American teenagers in the 1990s and becoming one of Tejano music’s most prominent recording artists.
Jose Roberto Pulido Jr. was born on April 25, 1973, in Edinburg, Texas. He is the oldest child of Roberto Pulido, an award-winning Tejano music singer, and Diana Montez, daughter of norteño musician Mario Montez of Los Donneños. Known professionally as Bobby Pulido, he attended Edinburg High School and became a member of the school’s mariachi ensemble before joining his father’s band, Los Clásicos, where he contributed as a saxophonist and backup vocalist.
On September 17, 2025, Pulido announced that he would run for the U.S. House of Representatives in Texas’s 15th congressional district as a Democrat in the 2026 election, challenging Republican incumbent Monica De La Cruz. The 15th district had been redrawn in 2025 Texas redistricting to become more favorable to Republicans. Pulido has made appearances at quinceañeras a major aspect of his campaign after his opponent dismissed him as a performer. He ran as a conservative “Blue Dog Democrat”, seeking to recapture Hispanic voters who had largely moved to the right.
On Election Day, Pulido ousted De La Cruz as part of the 2026 blue wave.
Wikipedia / Image by By Mezquitic – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=185820400
Pulido, who refers to himself as a “conservative Democrat,” focused his campaign on high costs, healthcare and the humanitarian and economic impact of immigration enforcement raids in the region, as Trump’s mass deportation campaign hit families and small businesses in the Valley.
Pulido, a Latin Grammy winner who is now running for Congress in District 15, received more than 1,000 requests in the first 24 hours to perform at quinceañeras, birthday parties, bar mitzvahs and graduations.
After his opponent criticized him for performing at quinceañeras, Pulido made those celebrations an important part of his campaigning. He reportedly attended dozens of them. I can’t imagine a bigger political blunder in Texas – disrespecting quinceañeras. Our WLBOTT political analyst, Elder G explains:
¡Exactamente!
A quinceañera isn’t merely a birthday party. It’s a family milestone, a celebration of cultural identity, and often a major undertaking involving grandparents, godparents, cousins, neighbors, and seemingly half the county.
There’s the dress, the court of honor, the Mass for families who observe that tradition, the food, the dancing, and the photographs that will occupy living-room walls for generations.
And the music! A Tejano star performing at a quinceañera isn’t necessarily doing some insignificant side gig. He’s participating in one of the community’s cherished traditions.
And the details make the story even more remarkable.
De La Cruz’s actual argument was that an election should be about whom voters trust with their families’ future, rather than whom they’d hire to perform at a quinceañera. That’s a legitimate distinction about political qualifications. But Pulido turned the reference into an opportunity to celebrate the tradition. By September, he reported performing at least 75 quinceañeras during the campaign. He even publicly thanked his opponent for giving him the idea!
The irony is delicious. An attack intended to diminish a musician’s credentials became a way for him to meet families in their own communities.
Elder G, WLBOTT Political Consultant
Texas’s 15th congressional district seems to defy the concept of democratic representation.
It would be like combining Bavaria and Toledo in the same district. All good people and true, but with much different representational needs.
Semi-Sequitur: The Quinceañera and Other Female Rites of Passage
At what point does a child become an adult, and how does the community acknowledge that transformation?
With help from Elder G and the series of tubes known at the “interwebs,” let’s look at some rites of passage for young women across space and time.
Quinceañera
The quinceañera itself is especially interesting because its origins are not entirely settled. Scholars identify several influences: Indigenous Mesoamerican ceremonies, Spanish colonial Catholicism, European court presentations, and twentieth-century celebrations of Latin American identity. The quinceañera is not simply an imported Mexican tradition. It has also become a distinctive expression of Mexican American identity in South Texas.
Other origin stories attribute quinceañera history to the Duchess of Alba in Spain, who hosted a ball at her palace and invited adolescent girls to attend in formal clothes.
Note that there have been a bunch of Duchesses of Alba. Francisco Goya painted #13.
The most recent Duchess of Alba (#18) died in 2014 at the age of 88. There is no current Duchess of Alba because the primary title of the House of Alba belongs to a male holder.
The world’s most titled aristocrat and Spain’s richest noble, the 18th Duchess of Alba, has died aged 88 after a short illness.
It was said she owned so much land that you could walk from one side of the country to the other without stepping off her property.
Taken to hospital earlier this week with pneumonia, the Duchess was moved back to her Seville residence, the 14th-century Palacio de Dueñas, on Tuesday night. Initial optimism about a possible recovery quickly receded, and she died early this morning, with her six children and third husband at her side.
Traditionally age 20; some ceremonies now include age 18
Young adults gather in elaborate traditional clothing, especially women’s furisode kimono. Local officials congratulate them on their new responsibilities.
The modern national holiday dates to 1948, but Japanese coming-of-age ceremonies have much older antecedents. Japan lowered its legal age of adulthood to 18 in 2022, although many municipalities still celebrate 20-year-olds.
Coming of Age Day (成人の日, Seijin no Hi) is a public holiday in Japan held annually on the second Monday of January under the Happy Monday System. It is held in order to congratulate and encourage all those who have already reached the age of maturity between April 2 of the previous year and April 1 of the current year, and to help them realise that they have become adults. Festivities include coming of age ceremonies (成人式, seijin-shiki) held at local and prefectural offices, as well as after-parties among family and friends.
By moguphotos – Harajuku, young ladies hanging., CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3936878
Coming of age ceremonies have been celebrated in Japan since at least 714 CE, during the reign of Empress Genmei
Empress Genmei (元明天皇, Genmei-tennō; April 20, 660 – December 29, 721), also known as Empress Genmyō, was the 43rd monarch of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Genmei’s reign spanned the years 707 through 715.
Age 12 for girls in traditional Jewish law; often celebrated at 12 or 13.
A girl assumes religious responsibilities associated with Jewish adulthood. Depending on the congregation, celebrations may include reading from the Torah, leading prayers, delivering a teaching, and a family reception.
The religious status has deep roots, but public Bat Mitzvah ceremonies for girls became especially prominent in the twentieth century.
