Despite the distrust of PT members towards the former president of Rodrigo Pacheco (-MG) for a vacancy in the (Supreme Federal Court), the president’s () orientation to allies was to maintain support for his eventual candidacy for the Government of Minas Gerais.
Part of the group close to Lula believes that Pacheco helped the president of the Senate, (-AP), to reject Messias’ nomination in the vote on Wednesday (29), despite having done so. This deteriorated the relationship with the senator and reinforced the impression among Lulista sectors that he will not be a candidate.
When suspicions about Pacheco’s loyalty were raised with Lula, the PT member responded that he remained the group’s candidate and that the vote in the Senate had no relation to the electoral campaign.
There are doubts, however, about the disposition of the PT base with Pacheco’s candidacy given the wear and tear caused by Messias’ rejection.
The Union’s attorney general needed the support of at least 41 senators to be appointed minister, but only received 34 votes. Pacheco became a central character in the crisis because he was the name preferred by Alcolumbre and most senators to join the STF.
In retaliation for , who is a lawyer, Alcolumbre worked against Messias’ approval.
Pacheco’s allies see the suspicion that he acted against the government as unfair and say that, on the contrary, he helped Messias. According to these reports, it was the senator who took the Union’s attorney general to the event at his house with Alcolumbre.
Pacheco interlocutors stated that he remains willing to run in Minas, as long as his candidacy demonstrates political and electoral viability. But Messias’ defeat could shake the process, as attempts to embarrass him by the PT would make the senator give up, according to those around him.
Some members of Palácio do Planalto claim to be sure that Pacheco acted to take votes from Messias. The resentment of government members towards the senator increased this Thursday (30) because he did not vote in the Congress deliberation than those convicted of coup plotting.
The government’s defeat, in this case, was already priced in, but Pacheco’s participation would demonstrate good will, according to this assessment.
The President of the Republic worked for months to convince Pacheco to run for office, considering that he would be the ideal ally to lead his re-election campaign in Minas. The senator joined the PSB to make his candidacy viable, but never made a decisive gesture. This stance was already bothering PT members even before Messias’ rejection.
Talks about a Pacheco candidacy included the participation of Alcolumbre, of whom the senator is a close ally. The rejection of Messiah made this electoral planning difficult.
If the PT gives up on an alliance with Pacheco – or the senator definitively rejects the candidacy – there will be consequences for national politics. The President of the Republic will need to look, in this scenario, for a new name to which he can associate himself in Minas Gerais. The state is the second with the most voters in Brazil and tends to be decisive in presidential elections.
The logic is that candidates for governor help to add volume, in the states, to presidential campaigns. This is what political jargon calls assembling platforms.
For this reason, some of the head of government’s allies point out that he will only give up on launching Pacheco if he finds an alternative name to compete for the Minas Gerais government.
Former mayor of Contagem Marília Campos (PT), who will run for the Senate in Lula’s alliance, defends that Pacheco be the group’s candidate. “You cannot hold him responsible for the result [rejeição de Messias]. I still think he’s our candidate for government,” she said.
Pacheco’s interlocutors claim to see no reason for distrust and list the senator’s gestures to both Messias and Lula, when he was president of the Senate.
Still according to these allies, the senator led the articulation for the PSB’s support for Messias. On the eve of the hearing, he released a note of support and a photo, in which the attorney general appears alongside the senator and vice-president (PSB).
Furthermore, Pacheco publicly greeted Messias, during the hearing, with a hug. Those around the senator also remember that, as president of the Senate, he helped Lula to nominate two nominees for the STF, Zanin and Flávio Dino.
The assessment of this group is that Lula’s pragmatism favors maintaining the candidacy, considering that there is a lack of alternatives to the PT.
Politicians around Lula recently learned that businessman Josué Gomes da Silva, son of former vice-president José Alencar and an ally of the PT member, joined the PSB. A new arrangement without Pacheco could involve Josué running for the Senate or even for the government.
Furthermore, the former mayor of , who was Lula’s ally in the 2022 election, was launched as a pre-candidate. Pedetists demand support from the PT in Minas Gerais.
In addition to being a large electoral college, Minas Gerais also has great symbolic value in the presidential election. The last time a presidential candidate was elected without winning in the state was in 1950, .
In 2022, Lula won by a narrow margin among the Minas Gerais electorate. He received 50.2% of the votes in the second round against 49.8% for (PL). Nationally, the PT member had 50.9% against 49.10% for Bolsonaro.
The PT member appears with the senator (-RJ).
