The mayor of , (PSD), a pre-candidate for governor of the state, has been organizing a vice president since last year who falls within the center-right. Representative Dr. Luizinho (RJ), leader of the Chamber, has approached Paes and opened conversations to suggest a name.
Paes is looking for someone who has political reach in Baixada Fluminense or in the interior of the state. He considers the biggest electoral challenge to be the dispute outside the capital, with a traditionally more conservative average voter.
In the second round of the gubernatorial election in 2018, Paes, then with two terms as mayor of Rio, lost to the previously unknown Wilson Witzel (then in the PSC) in 89 of the state’s 92 cities. It only won in the capital, in Niterói and in the small municipality of Rio das Flores.
Since last year, Paes has been telling allies that the focus is on sealing the alliance with Dr. Luizinho, who has a political background in Baixada Fluminense, influence in city halls in the interior and in the government ().
A doctor, he maintains appointments in the area of Health. His sister was until the case of HIV-infected organs was revealed in 2024.
Luizinho was tipped to run for mayor in 2024, against Paes. de Castro, but the former president (PL) chose Alexandre Ramagem (PL-RJ), defeated in .
In the Rio de Janeiro scenario, Luizinho awaits approval from the national president of the PP, to close an agreement. Paes has two names from the PP on his radar: the former mayor of Nova Iguaçu Rogério Lisboa and the current mayor of Campos dos Goytacazes, Wladimir Garotinho, son of former governor Anthony Garotinho.
Wladimir held meetings with Paes in 2025 and was assessed as a good counterpoint to the retired state deputy Rodrigo Bacellar (União Brasil), at the time tipped to run for government. The Garotinho and Bacellar families are rivals in Campos.
Rogério Lisboa was mayor of Nova Iguaçu for two terms — the first of which was for PL — and is close to Luizinho.
A decision on vice should only be made by Paes after Carnival. The Rio de Janeiro election could place Rio’s parties on opposing platforms. União, close to Castro, tends to support a PL name or launch its own candidate.
While trying to expand alliances with the center-right and the right at the state level, Paes promises support to Lula (PT).
The mayor’s relationship with PT members is going through a turbulent phase, with the return of fights between Paes and André Ceciliano, former president of Alerj (Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro) and current secretary of parliamentary affairs at SRI (Secretariat for Institutional Relations) in the federal government.
Ceciliano is moving to run for the likely buffer mandate for the Government of Rio, a vacancy that will be opened after Castro resigns to run for . PT wings differ on the candidacy.
As the state does not have a vice-governor and the original president of Alerj, Rodrigo Bacellar, was removed by decision of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), the Rio de Janeiro Legislature will need to call new indirect elections for governor.
Castro has until April to resign from office and the elections must take place within 30 days of his departure.
Candidates outside Alerj can compete. Until the turn of the year, Castro expressed unanimity on the name of Nicola Miccione, secretary of the Civil House. Miccione is seen as an administrative profile, without political pretensions and which, therefore, would please the wide range of alliances in the assembly.
But the group to Castro’s right plans to launch Douglas Ruas (PL), state secretary of Cities, who is the son of Captain Nelson (PL), mayor of São Gonçalo, the third largest electoral college in the state.
