The former governor and former minister () will be the vice-president on the ticket of the former minister () for the Government of . The former ministers (Rede) and (PSB) will also compete for Senate seats in the state in the alliance.
When justifying the decision, during a speech this Thursday (25) at the campaign HQ, in the Pacaembu region, in the capital of São Paulo, Haddad stated that the ticket is already equal and highlighted the former minister’s experience and his ability to contribute to the agenda in the state, although this will not be concentrated in a single person.
“The important thing was our cohesion around an important project for São Paulo and Brazil, since the result here has repercussions nationally”, said the PT member.
The decision was taken after party leaders and the president (PT) on Wednesday (24), at Palácio da Alvorada, in Brasília.
The president is closely following the construction of the alliance in São Paulo because the state has the largest electorate in the country, which makes the existence of a strong platform for his name even more important.
The agreement was possible after França, who wanted to be a candidate for senator or governor, gave in and accepted the vice position. Haddad’s allies believe that he adds votes to his ticket in regions of São Paulo where the PT has little strength, such as Baixada Santista.
Haddad denied, during this Thursday’s speech, that there was a delay or impasse in choosing the vice president and characterized the situation as the result of people “in good faith expressing their inclinations and weighing various issues to make a decision”.
Furthermore, there is the assessment that France has a political confrontation profile that Haddad lacks. The main attacks on the current governor (Republicans), who will seek re-election, should be the vice’s responsibility.
In the meeting with Lula, França considered that he could help the president by launching a separate candidacy for governor as well. The reasoning was that he would take votes from Tarcísio and force a second round between Haddad and the current governor of the state.
This would benefit the president because it would avoid a loss of volume for the PT campaign in São Paulo in the second round.
The idea that prevailed, however, is that, if Haddad wins more votes in the first round than in 2022, Lula would already benefit. Allies of the President of the Republic also assess that, if he is re-elected in the first round, Tarcísio will not work so hard in the second to ask for votes for Flávio Bolsonaro (PL), the president’s main opponent in the national election.
France also defended, at times in recent months, that Simone Tebet should be Haddad’s deputy. The argument was that she could facilitate the PT member’s movement into agribusiness and, as she was a woman, would add diversity to the ticket.
The fact that Tebet changed her electoral title to São Paulo with the commitment to run for the Senate and the assessment of Lula’s political group that she has a chance of being elected weighed against the idea.
Haddad initially looked for a deputy who was a woman and linked to agriculture. There were surveys, for example, of the former president of the Brazilian Rural Society Teresa Vendramini.
Márcio França’s place in the Lulist alliance had already been a subject of discussion in 2022. He wanted to be a candidate for governor. In the end, he agreed to run for a senator’s seat and nominated his wife, Lúcia França, to be Haddad’s vice-president in that election.
Also present at Wednesday’s meeting were the vice-president (PSB); the president of the PSB,; and the president of PT, Edinho Silva.
They, and other allies, stayed at Alvorada afterwards to watch with Lula the Brazilian team’s game, which beat Scotland 3-0 in the World Cup.
In 2022, Haddad obtained the PT’s best performance in the history of São Paulo elections. He received 36% of the votes in the first round and 45% of the votes in the second. The result was considered fundamental to Lula’s victory that year.
Simone Tebet participated this Thursday in a Petrobras ceremony alongside President Lula, in Mato Grosso Sul. She already left the Ministry of Planning in March to meet the deadline for non-compliance imposed on pre-candidates, but spoke as former mayor of Três Lagoas, where the state-owned company resumes work on the Nitrogen Fertilizers Unit this Thursday.
“This is probably the last act of a political cycle that closes in my life. At your request, today I will carry out a new mission as a pre-candidate for the Senate in another state,” she said, praising Lula during her speech.
“They may or may not like President Lula, they may or may not vote for President Lula, but no one, no president in the history of Brazil, has done for Três Lagoas what Lula did,” she said.
Catarina Scortecci, from Curitiba, collaborated
