Adam Gray Is Paying to Bring Bobby Pulido to Merced – He Owes the Valley an Answer

On August 29, the Art Kamangar Center at the Merced Theatre will host a free concert headlined by singer Bobby Pulido. Congressman Adam Gray is billed as the special guest. And at the bottom of the flyer, in the fine print most people skip, is the line that matters most: Paid for by Adam Gray for Congress. Gray is not dropping by someone else’s event. His campaign chose this headliner, booked this venue, and is writing the checks.

So voters in the Valley are entitled to ask what kind of vetting went into that decision.

Bobby Pulido is not simply a musician. He is the Democratic nominee for Texas’ 15th Congressional District, and since April, he has been the subject of sustained national reporting about his decades-long relationship with accordionist Frankie Caballero.

Caballero served four years in a Texas prison for indecent sexual contact with an 8-year-old girl. He was released in mid-2017. Records show Pulido resumed touring with him within months of that release. On May 24, 2018, Pulido and Caballero performed together at a fundraiser for Harwell Middle School in Edinburg, Texas. Caballero was listed on the Texas sex offender registry that day. Video of the event showed children in the audience.

Did Gray know about this before his campaign booked the show? If he did not, what does that say about his judgment? And if he did, what possessed him to spend campaign money bringing this headliner to a free, family-friendly venue in the middle of our community?

Those are not gotcha questions. They are the questions any parent in the Valley would ask.

This is also not the first time Gray has had to answer for the company he keeps. In November 2025, Gray signed on as a campaign co-chair for Eric Swalwell’s run for governor. In April, Swalwell suspended that campaign amid allegations of sexual misconduct involving staffers and other women.

This is a question of judgment, and it is not a hard one. Know who you are vouching for before you put your name behind them. The Valley deserves a representative who clears that bar.

Congressman Gray can settle this before August 29. He can tell the Valley what his campaign knew, when it knew it, and whether he still believes this is an appropriate use of the money his donors gave him. He can answer whether anyone on his staff read a single one of the national outlets that have covered this since April.

Or he can stand on that stage in Merced, smile for the cameras, and hope nobody in the audience is paying attention.

The Valley is paying attention.