德克萨斯州埃丁堡——一名男子走进座无虚席的演出现场，现场挤满了热情的粉丝。扬声器中传出怀旧风格的乐曲，观众们随着节奏摇摆并齐声合唱。众多狂热粉丝头戴火红色的竞选帽，密密麻麻地挤在场地中只为一睹演出风采。
EDINBURG, Texas — A man walks out to a packed arena filled with fervent fans. Nostalgic music blasts out over the speakers as the audience of the spectacle sways and sing along. Firehouse-red campaign hats litter the heads of the devotees jammed in tight to see the show.
不过，这并非“让美国再次伟大”集会，走上舞台的也不是唐纳德·特朗普。
But this isn’t a MAGA rally, and that’s not Donald Trump hitting the stage.
登台的是博比·普利多——这位德克萨斯州本土歌星如今已转投民主党，成为众议院候选人。他全身穿着皮衣，头戴黑色牛仔帽。此次演出名为“最后的守夜音乐会”，据他称，这将是他于周六晚在埃丁堡举办的最后一场演唱会。
On stage is Bobby Pulido, the Tejano star turned Democratic House candidate clad in head-to-toe leather and a black cowboy hat. The occasion? “La Ultima Desvelada,” what he said will be his final concert in Edinburg on Saturday night.
普利多试图拿下这个选区。过去十年间，该选区逐渐脱离民主党的掌控，如今已成为检验美国最具文化保守倾向的拉丁裔选民倾向的关键战场。
Pulido is trying to flip a district that has steadily, over the past decade, slipped from the grasp of the Democratic Party and became the ultimate swing test for the country’s most culturally conservative Latino voters.
如果普利多能在德克萨斯州第15选区击败现任共和党众议员莫妮卡·德拉克鲁兹，民主党收获的将远不止一个有助于其获得众议院多数席位的席位。眼下，民主党正致力于争取拉丁裔选民支持并为2028年大选奠定基础，而这位德克萨斯州歌星有望成为该党向最薄弱的拉丁裔选民群体传递信息的得力使者。
If Pulido wins in Texas’ 15th District against incumbent GOP Rep. Monica De La Cruz, the Democratic Party stands to gain much more than just a seat that could make a House majority. As the party looks to rebuild with Latinos and lay the groundwork for 2028, the Tejano crooner could become a strong messenger to one of Democrats’ weakest voting blocs.
“墨西哥裔美国男性在两大政党中都找不到归属感，”普利多在接受《政治报》采访时说道，“这种感觉就像是：拉丁裔男性渴望成为家庭的顶梁柱，可眼下却难以做到。”与本轮选举中的许多民主党人一样，普利多也着重强调物价可负担性，并大力抨击特朗普的关税政策、美伊战争以及政治竞选活动中大量企业资金的涌入。
“Mexican-American men haven't really felt like they have a home,” in either party, Pulido told POLITICO in an interview. “It almost feels like the Latino man wants to be that provider, and he can’t fulfill that right now.”Like many Democrats this cycle, Pulido has dialed in on affordability and an aggressive economic messaging slamming Trump’s tariffs, the war with Iran and the growing stream of big corporate money in political campaigns.
不过，与其他民主党人不同的是，普利多也认同该地区特有的社会保守观念。周五他对记者说道，自己属于“传统守旧派”——这是西班牙语中形容人思想传统、守旧的说法。
But unlike his fellow Democrats, Pulido echoes a social conservatism that has defined the region. He’s “chapado a la antigua,” he told reporters Friday — a Spanish saying for old-school or traditional.
“拉美裔男性的成长传统正在消失，我认为他们有很多挫败感，”普利多对《政治》杂志说。“他们想要有人用‘让我出去工作，对吧？这样我才能养家’这样的语言和他们交谈。”普利多挖掘出一种政治热情和文化明星效应，而民主党一直对此感到渴望。特朗普在2024年以惊人的18个百分点赢得了该选区——而该选区去年被共和党重新划分。但普利多作为埃丁堡本地人和音乐明星的近乎普遍的知名度，加上历史性的逆风，使得得州南部选区在这个周期成为最大的悬念之一。
“Those traditions of how [Latino men] were raised are going away, and I think there’s a lot of frustration,” Pulido told POLITICO. “They want somebody to talk to them in the language of, ‘Let me go out there and work, right? So I can provide for my family.’”Pulido has tapped into a level of political fervor and cultural star power for which the Democratic Party has been starved. Trump won the district by a staggering 18 points in 2024 — and it was redrawn by Republicans last year. But Pulido’s near-universal name ID as an Edinburg native and music star, combined with historic headwinds buffeting, put the south Texas district on the map as one of the biggest toss-ups this cycle.
距离选举还有两周多的时间，普利多与德拉卡鲁斯陷入胶着状态。他将告别三十年的音乐生涯、多个拉丁格莱美奖和座无虚席的竞技场，只为有机会在国会大厅代表他的家乡。
With just over two weeks to go, Pulido is in a dead heat against De La Cruz. He’s leaving behind three decades as a musician, multiple Latin Grammys and packed arenas for a shot at representing his hometown in the halls of Congress.
956地区对普利多及其家人的了解程度，是寥寥无几的国会候选人所能比拟的。他们知道他的父亲罗伯托·普利多，也是一位著名的德州墨西哥裔歌手，曾与儿子同台演出。他们知道他的叔叔，曾是一名县法官。但除此之外，凭借数十亿次播放量，普利多的90年代热门歌曲成为里奥格兰德谷的无处不在的声音。而只有在里奥格兰德谷，他的支持者才会骑马来到竞技场，从附近的高速公路上下来。
The 956 region knows Pulido and his family to an extent that very few would-be members of Congress could boast. They know his father, Roberto Pulido, also a famous Tejano singer who joined his son onstage. They know his uncle, a former county judge. But beyond that, with billions of streams to his name, Pulido’s 90s hits became a ubiquitous sound for the RGV. And only in the RGV would his supporters trot up to the arena on horseback, coming off the nearby expressway.
这种名声以及他与选区的深厚联系，使得普利多成为本周期民主党最珍贵的新人之一。他是民主党国会竞选委员会的顶尖候选人之一，他的竞选团队部分由蓝狗组织如“基准”组成，同时也拥有与参议员鲁本·加列戈（D-亚利桑那州）2024年参议院竞选团队相同的拉美裔顾问。
That fame, and his deep district ties, made Pulido one of the party’s most prized recruits this cycle. He’s one of the DCCC’s top candidates, with a campaign staffed in part by blue dog organizations like The Bench while also boasting the same Latino consultants as Sen. Ruben Gallego’s (D-Ariz.) 2024 Senate campaign.
民主党人看到普利多在2028年竞选道路上可能成为的那种代言人的潜力。该党许多最具影响力的拉美裔声音——以及吸引眼球的人物——进一步向左倾斜。
And Democrats see the potential for the kind of surrogate Pulido could become on the 2028 campaign trail. Many of the party’s biggest Latino voices — and attention grabbers — are further on the left.
“我们一直没有像鲍比·普利多这样的人，他将从党内温和派走出来，成为一颗摇滚明星，”加莱戈对《政治》杂志说。
“What we haven't had is someone like Bobby Pulido, who's going to come from the moderate wing of the party, that is going to be a rock star,” Gallego told POLITICO.
如果普利多明年真的前往华盛顿特区，他将与一批刚刚崭露头角的进步派民主党人并肩作战，这些人在蓝色地区凭借民主社会主义的浪潮崭露头角——最典型的例子是纽约的达丽丽萨·阿维拉·雪瓦利耶和克莱尔·瓦尔德兹。
Should Pulido head to D.C. next year, he’d be joining alongside a crop of fresh progressive Democrats who have ridden the wave of democratic socialism in blue enclaves — most notably New York’s Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez.
“我们不可能在所有问题上意见一致，”普利多承认。但随着德克萨斯州在未来总统选举周期中可能获得更多选举人票，该党的方向必须“在心脏地带的中间产生共鸣”，他说。
“We're not going to agree on everything,” Pulido conceded. But with Texas primed to get even more electoral votes in future presidential cycles, the party’s direction has to “resonate inside the middle of the heartland,” he said.
但这不仅仅是选举人票的问题：早期的民主党提名日历高度拉美化，新墨西哥州和内华达州都在名单之列。墨西哥裔美国男性可能在这两个州的选举中起到决定性作用。
But it’s not only electoral numbers: the early Democratic nominating calendar is heavily Latino, with both New Mexico and Nevada in the lineup. Mexican-American men could help tip the scales in either state.
普利多知道，如果他赢得胜利，潜在的2028年总统竞选者将蜂拥而至，向他请教如何赢得里奥格兰德谷的支持。如果他获胜，他会支持2028年的总统候选人吗？他们首先必须说服普利多。
Pulido knows if he pulls off the win, potential 2028 hopefuls will come flocking, asking him how to win over the Rio Grande Valley. Could he see himself backing 2028 presidential candidates if he wins? They’ll have to convince Pulido first.
“我会把任何类型的背书或支持紧紧藏在心底，我肯定会确保自己只站在那些对西班牙裔有共鸣的政策的人身后，”普利多说。
“I will hold any type of endorsement or anything very close to my chest, and I will definitely make sure that I get behind somebody that has a policy that resonates with Hispanics,” Pulido said.
自普利多在90年代中期推出热门单曲《Desvelado》至今，他的家乡埃丁堡及其周边姐妹城镇已经从一个曾经可靠的蓝色工人阶级地区，转变为全国范围内对民主党建制深感警惕的地区。拉美裔选民已经接受了特朗普和其他共和党候选人所推崇的经济民粹主义，他们宣扬更保守的价值观。2022年，德拉克鲁兹为共和党赢得了该选区。
Since Pulido released his hit single “Desvelado” in the mid-90s to today, his hometown of Edinburg and its sister cities across the area transformed from a once-reliable blue working class district to a part of the country deeply wary of the Democratic establishment. Latino voters have embraced the economic populism of Trump and other GOP candidates who touted their more conservative values. In 2022, De La Cruz clinched the district for Republicans.
普利多在周五于梅赛德斯举行的集会现场告诉记者，到2024年，民主党缺乏能够应对该地区许多人所诟病的“开放边界”问题的经济信息或答案。
By 2024, Democrats lacked an economic message or answers for what many in the area decried as wide-open borders, Pulido told reporters on the sidelines of his rally in Mercedes on Friday.
这使得他的选举赌注更加重大，而里奥格兰德山谷也成为最终的风向标。
That’s made the stakes for his races all the bigger, with the RGV becoming the ultimate bellwether.
“鲍比的政治与我们作为一个政党在全国范围内塑造的形象不同，但我认为这是件好事，”索莫斯政治行动委员会的梅丽莎·莫拉莱斯表示。该委员会已向普利多的竞选投入数百万美元。
“Bobby's politics are different from the way that we have branded ourselves nationally as a party, but I think that's a good thing,” said Melissa Morales of Somos PAC, which has poured millions into Pulido’s race.
但普利多的竞选一直受丑闻困扰。他因在社交媒体上发表关于女性和同性恋者的粗俗帖子而受到批评。他前乐队成员弗兰基·卡巴列罗因儿童性犯罪被定罪。普利多坚称，他在以承包商身份加入乐队期间并不知晓卡巴列罗的过往，因为没有进行背景调查。卡巴列罗于2014年被定罪，但后来又与普利多一起演出。
But Pulido’s campaign has been marred by scandal. He’s taken heat for crude social media posts about women and gay people. Frankie Caballero, one of his former bandmates, was convicted as a child sex offender. Pulido insisted he was not aware of Caballero’s history while he was in the band as a contractor, having not done a background check. Caballero was convicted in 2014, but later returned to performing with Pulido.
德拉克鲁斯的竞选团队将普利多与卡巴列罗的关系作为攻击的常用手段。“鲍比·普利多让他的叔叔撤销了对一名朋友的儿童强奸指控，好让他能在乐队里演奏。然后他保释了这个恋童癖者，把他带到一所中学，并视而不见，任由他在得克萨斯州南部猥亵儿童。拉丁裔女性选择的是为家庭奋斗的职业母亲莫妮卡·德拉克鲁斯，而不是一个腐败的名流渣滓，他会让生活变得更昂贵，并且仅仅因为喜欢手风琴就把一个掠食者重新放回街头，”德拉克鲁斯竞选经理詹姆斯·舒克在一份声明中表示。
De La Cruz’s campaign has made Pulido’s ties to Caballero a staple of attacks. “Bobby Pulido had his uncle drop a child rape charge against a friend so he could play in his band. Then he bailed this pedophile out of jail, brought him to a middle school, and looked the other way while he molested children in South Texas. Latinas are choosing Monica De La Cruz, a working mom fighting for their families, over a corrupt scumbag celebrity who will make life more expensive and already put a predator back on the streets because he likes his accordion,” James Shook, De La Cruz’s campaign manager, said in a statement.
普利多对自己的过往经历显得有些避而不谈，但在接受《Politico》采访时，他为自己在社交媒体上发布的言论道歉。对于卡巴列罗入狱的原因，他给出的说法前后不一。今年8月，普利多在接受《Politico》采访时说道：“对于我曾经说过、并冒犯了他人的那些玩笑话，我深表歉意。不过我实在无法一一回顾那些言论了。”
Pulido was defensive over his past, but apologized for his social media posts in an interview with POLITICO. He has given varied responses on what he knew about why Caballero went to prison. “I apologize for everything that I’ve ever joked about that offended anybody,” Pulido told POLITICO in August. “But I can’t continue to revisit every single one.”
即便如此，仍有数百名粉丝涌向伯特·奥格登竞技场，只为观看他的最后一场演出，可见他的人气丝毫未减。多位现场观众在接受《Politico》采访时称，他们确实听说了有关普利多及其手风琴演奏者的种种指控，但没人表示这些传闻会影响自己的投票选择。
With hundreds flocking to Bert Ogden Arena to witness his final show, Pulido’s popularity has hardly dimmed because of it. Multiple voters in attendance who spoke with POLITICO said they had heard the allegations about Pulido and his accordionist, but none said that it was affecting their vote.
“虽然挺遗憾的，但我不会因此责怪博比，”来自法尔-圣胡安-阿拉莫地区的音乐人乔·巴雷拉说道。身为独立选民的巴雷拉表示，自己目前仍在普利多与德拉克鲁兹之间犹豫不决，不过他觉得“是时候做出改变了”。在场的选民们表示，经济状况和移民问题才是他们支持这位歌手的主要原因。来自埃丁堡的民主党人弗兰克·特雷维诺对《Politico》说，如今生活成本实在“贵得离谱”。
“It’s unfortunate, but I’m not gonna hold it against Bobby,” said Joe Barrera, a musician from the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo area. Barrera, an independent, added that he’s still undecided between voting for Pulido or De La Cruz — but said he feels “it’s time for a change.”The economy and immigration dominated the reasons why voters in the crowd pledged their support for the singer. The cost of living has gotten “re pe caro” — super expensive — Frank Trevino, a Democrat from Edinburg, told POLITICO.
他和同为埃丁堡选民的费利克斯·桑多瓦尔都认识普利多的母亲，也记得小时候的博比。“我们得支持他，愿上帝保佑他，”桑多瓦尔说道。
He and fellow Edinburg voter Felix Sandoval said they knew Pulido’s mother and remembered Bobby as a kid. “We need to support him, God help him,” Sandoval said.
周六的这场告别演出成了埃丁堡全城热议的话题——从附近旅馆的走廊到演出结束后人们聚集的Whataburger餐厅，无不谈论此事。这场持续近两小时的演出堪称普利多过去30年音乐生涯的精华集锦，也让许多与他一同成长的选民重温了往昔岁月。“我当然很激动，但离开时毫无遗憾，”普利多在台上说道。今年，普利多还有望再度获得拉丁格莱美奖的认可。
Pulido’s final show Saturday was the talk of Edinburg, from the hallways of the nearby inns to the post-concert stop at Whataburger. Clocking in at nearly two hours, it served as a greatest hits replay for the last 30 years of his life — and a trip down memory lane for many of the voters who grew up with him. “Of course I’m emotional, but I’m leaving with no regrets,” Pulido said from the stage. Pulido is simultaneously up for yet another Latin Grammy recognition this year.
对于他作为长期娱乐工作者的身份，普利多并不喜欢被比作特朗普，他曾说特朗普“满口胡说”。但他的竞选团队似乎（或许带有讽刺意味）正在接受这种比较，推出了“让十五岁生日派对再次伟大”的帽子，这呼应了他已成为标志性竞选动作的一部分。
And for his status as a longtime entertainer, Pulido is not a fan of the comparisons to Trump, who in his words, is “full of shit.”Yet it’s also something his campaign has been (perhaps ironically) leaning into, with “Make Quinceñeras Great Again” hats nodding to what’s become his signature campaign move.
随着周一提前投票的开始，普利多锐化了他的最终宣传：他既不支持民主党也不支持共和党 — — 他只为他的选区服务。
With early voting kicking off on Monday, Pulido sharpened his closing pitch: He’s not for Democrats or Republicans — he’s for his district.
“我想回馈这个给予我如此多的地方，”普利多说。“如果你们赋予我代表你们进入国会的荣誉，我将以我的人格担保，永不忘记我来自何处。”
“I want to give something back to the place that’s given me so much,” Pulido said. “And if you give me the honor of representing you in Congress, I give you my word that I’ll never forget where I came from.”