A famous Tejano musician running as a Democrat in a conservative Texas congressional district has been boosted by close to $1 million in outside spending from a moderate political operation while he faces a primary questioning his credentials on the left.
The amount being spent by Blue Dog Action’s political arm to support Democratic candidate Bobby Pulido could have an outsized impact on the March 3 primary playing out in a South Texas district where Democrats face a challenging picture in this fall’s midterms.
Pulido is competing in the primary against challenger Ada Cuellar, who has worked as an emergency physician. She has largely self-funded her campaign with around $1 million.
The race has quietly emerged as a potential testing ground for the future of the Democratic Party. With the party cut out of power in Washington, the path back to a House majority likely means making gains in places where some voters have moved away from Democrats during the Trump era.
But a clear divide has emerged between the moderate and more progressive-minded wings of the party about how to overcome some of the stark brand challenges the party is facing around the country. And the urgent question is which Democrats are electable at a time when political norms are being tested and twisted.
Cuellar has criticized the recent outside spending in the race, saying in a social media post that “establishment money is trying to swing this election.” Phil Gardner, a senior advisor with the Blue Dog group, pointed to Cuellar’s practice of self-funding her campaign.
“Bobby’s the Democrat who can win in November, and we couldn’t let that go unanswered,” Gardner told CBS News in an email.
Federal campaign finance records show that the Blue Dog-linked group, BDA PAC, has directed more than $997,000 toward helping Pulido’s primary run. The money, which started being detailed over the last two weeks, has gone toward independent mail or advertising and production efforts to support Pulido, according to public disclosures.
In a Feb. 20 announcement, interest in the race was described by the Blue Dog group as representing a “long-planned investment.”
BDA PAC ties back, according to an online biography, to the ethos of the moderate Blue Dog Coalition from the mid 1990s, which was “founded by a group of Democrats who believed their party and their country were being ‘choked blue; by political extremes.'”
The most recent detailed campaign finance data shows that as of Feb. 11, Pulido’s campaign had brought in a little over $894,000 from donors, along with around $150,000 from the candidate himself, while spending around $761,000 on his run at that point. Thousands of dollars more from donors have also come in in the dwindling days of the primary contest.
Other outside spending groups have also come to Pulido’s aid in recent weeks, including the Latino Victory Fund, whose website describes it as having “the mission to elect Latino leaders who support progressive policies at all levels of government.”
The path for a Democrat to win the general election in the recently redrawn Texas 15th congressional district, which stretches northward from the U.S. border with Mexico, may prove to be difficult. GOP Rep. Monica De La Cruz is running for re-election to the seat and as of earlier this month had a large financial advantage over her competition. The district is about 41% Democratic, according to a CBS News analysis of 2024 presidential election results.
Cuellar’s campaign has tried to elevate an argument on social media that she’s “the real Democrat” in the race. Pulido has emphasized economic concerns in his campaign, and said during a podcast appearance earlier this year with The Bulwark that “the people down here really, really vote for the person more than the party.”