The governors, from Rio Grande do Sul, and Ratinho Júnior, from Paraná, face each other in their states and run the risk of losing local command to the right after rehearsing presidential candidacies. The impasse has been taken into account in the national plans of both, according to allies.
Of the three presidential candidates, the governor of Goiás, is the one with the most comfortable situation in the regional election. His deputy, Daniel Vilela (MDB), is already ranked first in polls in voting intentions and his main opponent is former governor Marconi Perillo (PSDB), who lost strength after being mentioned in the .
In Goiás, the alliance with PL has not yet been ruled out, but . The party is divided between allying itself with Vilela and launching deputy Gustavo Gayer to the Senate on the ticket or running for government with senator Wilder Morais. The decision involves the formation of the (PL) platform in the state.
The national scene. Ratinho Júnior is divided between three names for his succession: the Secretary of Cities, Guto Silva (considered the governor’s favorite), the president of the Legislative Assembly, Alexandre Curi, and the former mayor of Curitiba Rafael Greca, all affiliated with the PSD.
The choice could split the governor’s group. Republicans and PP negotiate with Curi and Greca if they are passed over. The membership period ends on April 4th.
In a note to SheetRatinho preached the unity of his political field. “I have heard from the vast majority of people in the party this same commitment, of wanting continuity. Thinking not about the issue of the position or personal project, but thinking about the state. My concern is to have someone who thinks about the state.”
The possibility that the governor will run for President against Flávio also made the first-born of the former president (PL) so that the PL supports the successor chosen by Ratinho, with deputy Filipe Barros (PL) in one of the two Senate vacancies on the ticket.
Instead, the PL would support the senator (), who leads the polls of voting intentions, but is a more robust party – the PP, which is in a federation with Moro’s party, is against the candidacy. Flávio’s party even supports the affiliation of the former Lava Jato judge.
According to the governor’s allies, this scenario has caused concern, due to the risk of strengthening the platform of his main opponent. He and Flávio arranged a meeting in Brasília in the next few days to discuss the matter.
Some of his allies claim that the campaign is still a long way off and that the person chosen to succeed him will gain strength when the election begins, especially when associated with the governor’s name. Others say that Moro’s candidacy with the support of Bolsonarism would open a flank that would require more attention and presence from him in the state.
Leite now faces the most challenging scenario. He must resign from the government to make room for his deputy, Gabriel Souza (MDB), to gain more prominence. The emedebista appears in the polls behind left and right-wing candidates, even after gaining prominence with the delivery of works and the reconstruction of the state part of Rio Grande do Sul in 2024.
In a national alliance created by the PL, the PP has already abandoned the governor’s allied base and started supporting the candidacy of federal deputy Luciano Zucco (PL) – current leader of the polls. The left is trying to form an alliance between the president of Conab (National Supply Company), Edegar Preto (PT), and former state deputy Juliana Brizola (PDT) to compete against the governor’s group.
“Right now, the national election channels most of the electorate’s attention and also impacts the perception of the local election. But, at the right time, voters will pay attention to the local scenario and the large volume of deliveries and transformations we have made in the state will count in favor of our candidate. I am very sure of this”, Leite told Sheet.
The governor himself experienced this difficulty in 2022, when he tried to run for President through the PSDB, but lost the party’s primaries to the former governor of São Paulo João Doria (now without a party). He went through to the second round with just 2,441 votes ahead of the PT candidate and, in the end, ended up beating Onyx Lorenzoni (PL).
Leite uses this example to defend his candidate’s competitiveness, despite internal pressure to replace him with a better-known name. “We dare, out of conviction, not to join any of the poles that take center stage in the electoral debate. Naturally, this poses challenges. In 2022 we had a challenging first round. But we went to the second round and won them”, he stated.
Currently, polls indicate that Leite has the highest voting intention in the Senate race, but opponents such as Marcel Van Hattem (Novo) and Manuela D’ávila (PSOL) are hot on his trail. The governor says that his focus is to lead a presidential project, but that running for senator “is natural and a real possibility” if the PSD opts for one of the other two presidential candidates.
