Democrat congressional candidate Bobby Pulido is leaning into South Texas imagery in a new Spanish-language campaign ad.
But one of the cowboys featured in the spot comes from considerably farther away.
The ad features cars, cowboy hats, and other imagery meant to evoke South Texas as Pulido campaigns for Texas’ 15th Congressional District.
One of the cowboys featured in the ad, however, is Alexander Ripper, a German professional reining champion who has competed internationally for Germany.
Video footage of Ripper matches the footage used in Pulido’s campaign advertisement.
Ripper’s official profile with Germany’s national equestrian federation lists his residence as Fürth, Germany, and says he competed for Germany, won European championships and earned gold medals with the German national team.
The National Republican Congressional Committee mocked Pulido over the use of Ripper’s footage.
“It’s no surprise that this soft, self-proclaimed ‘winter Texan’ has to import a German professional rider just to prop up his pathetic, fake-ass South Texas act for the voters. Creepy Bobby Pulido is a hollowed-out, perverted husk of a man, an empty, repulsive fraud whose entire existence is nothing but cheap cosplay of a real South Texan,” NRCC spokesman Christian Martinez told Texas Scorecard.
The “winter Texan” reference comes from previous comments by Pulido about spending part of the year in Mexico because Texas gets too hot.
Pulido’s campaign said the shot was not produced specifically for the advertisement but came from stock footage.
“This shot is stock footage purchased from a popular stock site,” a campaign spokesperson told Texas Scorecard.
The unusual campaign-ad imagery comes as Pulido has faced more serious scrutiny over his longtime relationship with former bandmate and accordionist Frankie Caballero, who was convicted in 2014 of indecent sexual contact with a child and sentenced to four years in prison.
Following his release, Caballero returned to performing with Pulido, including at a benefit concert held at an Edinburg middle school. Pulido has maintained that he was unaware Caballero was a registered sex offender, saying he knew only that his former bandmate had struggled with addiction.
Pulido has also faced scrutiny over 2018 social media posts defending his decision to perform with Caballero at the school event.
In one post, Pulido wrote that child molestation is “abhorrent” but “not necessarily rape or murder” while arguing that sex offenders had been unfairly demonized.
Pulido is challenging Republican U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz.
