The Minister of Planning, , joined the party on Friday night (27) to compete for the ticket headed by (PT) to the São Paulo government and defended that the vice-president, now a party member, seek re-election alongside the president ().
“I defend today that the vice president continues, that in a team that is winning, he does not move, in the position of vice president, of pre-candidate for vice president of the Republic, alongside President Lula”, declared Tebet to journalists after the event.
The affiliation ceremony took place at Alesp (Legislative Assembly of São Paulo), in the south of the capital, and was attended by traditional party officials, including Alckmin, the minister (Entrepreneurship) and the federal deputy. PT member José Dirceu also attended.
Tebet said he is a person “from the center, from agribusiness” and that this may help to deal with the resistance of voters in the interior to candidacies seen as progressive.
“I have a progressive view in relation to human rights and I don’t give up on that. I am more liberal in the economy, so perhaps this balance, this balance, can help not only the party, the party, but this broad front that we want.”
She added that the party wants to have Haddad’s vice-president in the race for governor of São Paulo, but that conversations are still ongoing.
During her speech, Tebet declared that she had the misfortune of being a senator during a period of setbacks in the government of “the worst, most insensitive president in the history of this country, who is Jair Messias Bolsonaro”.
The minister thanked Alckmin for taking her to the party and the state. “My name is available for the Senate,” he stated.
“São Paulo has an absolutely ungrateful government. If today there is cash in the government of São Paulo, it is because there is a president of the Republic who does not look at party color,” she said.
Born in Mato Grosso do Sul, where she built her political career, Tebet changed her electoral address after requests from Lula and Alckmin to run for São Paulo, the state where she received the most votes for president in the first round of the 2022 election, with 1.6 million votes.
According to a Datafolha survey released this month, in a scenario in which Alckmin is also running for the Senate, Tebet appears with, behind only the vice-president, with 31%.
Tebet had been a member of the party since 1997, but as the party supports the re-election of the governor (Republicans) in the state, the change of domicile also required her to migrate to another party.
For the MDB in Mato Grosso do Sul, she was a state deputy (2003-2004), mayor of Três Lagoas (2005-2010), vice-governor (2011 to 2014) and senator (2015 and 2023). Her father, Ramez Tebet, was the state’s governor and senator.
Throughout the event, the talks focused on the 2022 elections and the defense of democracy.
“President Lula saved democracy in Brazil. If they [do governo Bolsonaro]losing the elections, they tried to stage a coup, imagine winning?”, said Alckmin in his speech.
He also said that Tebet, while Minister of Planning, helped ensure that the state had federal funding for large projects, such as the intercity train from São Paulo to Campinas, one of the flags that has been raised by Tarcísio in his pre-campaign for re-election.
Tabata gave a harsh speech against Bolsonaro, claiming that the former president was only defeated thanks to Alckmin and Tebet, who supported Lula’s ticket in those elections – the minister declared support for the PT member in the second round.
“This authoritarian project was defeated. And this was only possible because two people, at the right time, had the courage to put themselves at the service of the country,” said Tabata. “Without the firmness, the courage, the democratic commitment and without the decision to place Brazil above any personal project, the story would have been different. These two leaders who helped save our democracy are now in the same party”, he added.
The deputy said that São Paulo has a decisive role in history and that it often defines the country’s direction. Tabata, like Tebet, also signaled that the PSB intends to keep Alckmin as Lula’s deputy. Last week, the president left the question open.
“We will continue with Vice President Geraldo Alckmin leading our country alongside President Lula,” said Tabata.
LULISTA PLATE
The other Senate seat for São Paulo, still open, should be occupied by Minister Marina Silva, of the Environment.
Márcio França, who had initially placed himself as a pre-candidate for the government, has told allies that he seeks to run for senator. The Panel showed that Lula, now led by Alckmin, to remove the minister and consolidate the platform in the state.
Asked if she would prefer the other Senate seat to be contested by a woman or a fellow party member, Tebet replied: “I prefer women in all places, spaces of power, but we know that between the ideal and the possible, we have to stick with what is possible.”
