The vice-governor of Minas Gerais, Mateus Simões, will have his membership in the Social Democratic Party (PSD) made official on October 27th, at 9am, at the Hotel Ouro Minas, in Belo Horizonte. Simões will leave his old acronym, Novo, to launch himself into the state succession next year.
After opening a platform in Minas for the then presidential candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) in 2022, the party led by Gilberto Kassab decided to move away from the current holder of Palácio do Planalto for the 2026 race in the state.
The vice-governor of Minas Gerais is an ally of governor Romeu Zema and former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), and was part of the ticket that defeated the then PSD candidate for state government, Alexandre Kalil, in 2022.
FREE LIST
10 small caps to invest in
The list of stocks from promising sectors on the Stock Exchange
Former mayor of Belo Horizonte, Kalil left the PSD last year, because he disagreed with the preparation of the party’s ticket for the election in the capital of Minas Gerais, and joined the PDT at the beginning of September.
The PDT offered Kalil a new candidacy for the government of Minas Gerais in 2026. Now in a party that forms part of the base of the Lula government, Kalil wants to attract the vote of the most left-wing electorate, but does not intend to reissue a campaign linked to that of the current president, as he did in 2022.
Although Lula received more votes than Bolsonaro in Minas in the 2022 second round, the reading of different political forces in the state is that a very close association with the PT could cost votes in the 2026 state race.
Continues after advertising
In the case of the PSD, the decision to join Simões tends to reduce the space for a candidacy by the former president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), for the state government. Pacheco had been encouraged by Lula to run for governor and open a platform for the PT member in the state in 2026.
In addition to Pacheco, another PSD name considered for the next state dispute is the Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, who is currently considered one of the members of the government closest to Lula and First Lady Rosângela da Silva, known as Janja. Silveira intends to run for the Senate in the state.
The arrival of Zema’s vice-president in the PSD also opens another platform to the right for Kassab’s party, which intends to endorse a presidential candidacy in opposition to Lula.
The tendency is for the PSD to either launch the governor of Paraná, Ratinho Jr. (PSD), or be part of the alliance for a possible candidacy of the governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans). Both seek Bolsonaro’s approval for the national race.
In states like Rio and Bahia, on the other hand, the PSD tends to form state platforms that will be allied with the PT in 2026.
