Former mayor of Salvador and heir to Carlism, a traditional Bahian political culture, ACM Neto (União) confirmed for the first time that he will be a candidate for the government of Bahia in 2026. His name has been tested in research and appears ahead of the current governor and possible candidate for re-election, Jerônimo Rodrigues (PT). The history of state disputes, however, shows that PT members tend to get into gear throughout the campaign.
— I’m a candidate for governor of Bahia — said Neto at an event in the south of the state. — I’m in this because I feel that we all have a responsibility and a commitment to the future of Bahia and Brazil, and one thing is directly linked to the other.
If he faces the election, it will not be the former mayor’s first attempt to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather Antônio Carlos Magalhães, chief of the former PFL who governed Bahia in three distinct periods. In 2022, Neto ran against the same Jerônimo, until then an unknown secretary of Rui Costa, former governor and now minister of the Civil House.
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The right-wing candidate led the polls until close to voting day, but, in the wake of the nationalization of the campaign and Lula’s strength in Bahia, where the president received 69.7% of the votes in the first round, Jerônimo changed the game. The PT member from Bahia even almost won in the first round, when he had 49.5%, but needed the second round, in which he defeated his opponent by 52.8% to 47.2%.
Before him, Rui Costa (2014) and Jaques Wagner (2006) experienced similar situations. They started behind, but they fought back and were elected in the first round. In the following disputes, they were re-elected without major adversity.
The latest Genial/Quaest poll in Bahia, in August, shows Neto with 41%, against 34% for the governor. Jerônimo, however, has 59% approval, which represents an avenue for electoral growth.
History
With Jaques Wagner, Rui Costa and Jerônimo, Lula’s party has won every Bahian election since 2006. The force established since then broke the hegemony of ACM’s PFL — which later became DEM and, recently, merged with the PSL in União Brasil.
Before the PT dominated the state, the PFL won the disputes between 1990 and 2002. During the dictatorship, Antônio Carlos Magalhães was also governor for two periods. He was affiliated with Arena, the regime’s party, and later with PDS, the name adopted by the party when the country was preparing for the opening.
Neto, in turn, was a state and federal deputy, as well as mayor for two terms. Before trying to become the government for the first time, he appointed his successor as mayor, Bruno Reis (União), who still commands the city. In a logic opposite to what happens at the state level, the PT never managed to elect a mayor in the capital of Bahia.
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At the event in which he confirmed his candidacy, Neto also guaranteed that he will oppose the PT at national level.
— My candidate is the candidate to help defeat the PT, to win the election here and throughout Brazil — he indicated.
According to Quaest, 40% of Bahians want the next governor to be an ally of Lula, and 49% prefer someone “independent”. Only 9% express sympathy for a name close to Jair Bolsonaro.
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This profile of the electorate meant that ACM Neto did not take a firm stance in the second round of 2022. He avoided declaring a vote for the former president.
