While the candidacy of former Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG) to the Minas Gerais government in 2026 remains undefined, the movement has grown within the PSD to attract the deputy governor of the state, Mateus Simões (new), seen as a “plan B”. The articulation, which has the consent of local leaders, such as Minister Alexandre Silveira (Minas and Energy), caused discomfort between allies of Pacheco and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Last week, Simões exposed the articulation by stating that he will seek PSD president Gilberto Kassab, if Pacheco leaves the caption. Although a way out now is treated as unlikely, the senator has already received invitations from PSB, MDB and União Brasil and showed discomfort with the approach of the PSD with a political opponent. According to reports, he complained to allies for the party to have “a foot in every canoe.”
Simões gathered two weeks ago with Silveira in Brasilia, in a meeting articulated by Cássio Soares, president of PSD Mineiro. Officially, the agenda was the implementation of a pipeline in southern Minas Gerais. Behind the scenes, however, the meeting was read as a political gesture to the deputy governor, name of Governor Romeu Zema (Novo) for the senator’s succession and potential adversary in 2026.
The minister was criticized internally for receiving Simões days after a Lula event in Minas Gerais, when Pacheco was called the “future governor”. The former Senate president and the minister did not speak up.
At the time, Lula made attacks on Zema, while Pacheco spoke about “rebuilding the state” and “overcoming negationism”, indirect criticism of the Minas Gerais government, in a speech read as a sign that it intends to enter the dispute.
Search for space
Simões has low recognition from the electorate: appears with 4% of voting intentions, according to the most recent Quaest, February. Nevertheless, it has the support of the state machine and in practice commands the political articulation of the government.
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PSD affiliation is seen as a way to expand its space in the dispute, especially for TV time. The bet of the articulators is to repeat the strategy of Fuad Noman’s election to Belo Horizonte City Hall, victorious even after a disadvantage start.
Cássio Soares, who leads the largest bench in the assembly among Zema’s allies, is one of the enthusiasts of the arrival of Simões to the PSD. Although, in the last elections, the party has not closed with the government, there is pressure so that in 2026 the alliance will come true.
“I have a great relationship with Rodrigo (Pacheco), but he is a candidate for the government is more difficult. I believe it is possible (the approach with the PSD) since he leaves the party,” said Simões.
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Despite publicly maintaining the alignment speech with Lula, Silveira has been charged by PT leaders. The relationship with Pacheco, who has already advised the Senate, also deteriorated. On an official trip to Japan in March, both were on the presidential plane, but they were barely spoken along the way.
The ambiguity of the Minas Gerais PSD reflects Kassab’s own stance on the national scene. Although the party occupies three ministries of Lula, the leader has been departing from Planalto and has already declared interest in the candidacy of the governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans), to the presidency. Currently, Kassab is secretary of the São Paulo government and even gave way to party propaganda to the ally.
In the same ambiguous measure, Simões received former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in Belo Horizonte this week. At the event, he climbed the tone against the Planalto and stated that Lula should be excited from politics. In a gesture that was read by Pacheco allies as an attempt to minimize the approach, Silveira called the meeting “inappropriate”.
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Pacheco’s ally and deputy leader of the Opposition Bloc to Zema in the Legislative Assembly of Minas, Deputy Professor Cleiton (PV) said that there is no condition to support Simões:
“Especially after having posed with Bolsonaro.”
