The national and state directories give different weights to the candidacy of a party member for government in the 2026 elections.
While the national PT sees the need to have a member of the party competing for the Palácio dos Bandeirantes to guarantee the re-election of the president, the São Paulo leadership of the party signals a greater willingness to support a candidate who is not a PT candidate.
The demand for a proper name for the government comes mainly from Lula and the party’s president, Edinho Silva, according to PT members. The party leadership understands that São Paulo, the largest electoral college in the country, played an important role in the 2022 victory, as it won 4 million votes in the state in relation to the second round of the 2018 election for president.
Lula and Edinho’s preferred name is that of the minister (Finance), who ran for the São Paulo government four years ago, being defeated by the current governor, (Republicans). Haddad, however, has been reluctant to the idea of running for office again.
The minister’s allies claim that he would only run for the position if it were determined by Lula, but he does not rule it out. In the legislative house, he sees fewer chances of suffering a fourth consecutive defeat, after losing the 2016 municipal elections, in São Paulo, and the 2018 presidential contest, in addition to the 2022 election itself.
The PT leadership’s insistence on its own candidacy lies in the view that, to re-elect Lula, it is necessary to push the dispute in São Paulo to the second round, guaranteeing the president until the end of the elections.
The São Paulo leadership agrees that it is necessary to ensure that the second round takes place in the state, but has shown greater openness to supporting options outside the PT for the government.
Among the names well regarded by the state PT are the vice-president (), and the ministers of Entrepreneurship, (PSB), and Planning, (). Lula’s deputy is the only one from outside the party that the PT national leadership would have accepted as an option.
However, Alckmin has already told allies that he wants to repeat the victorious 2022 ticket and that he does not intend to run for any position other than vice president. Tebet would have to change his electoral domicile from Mato Grosso do Sul to São Paulo and also change parties, since the MDB, in the state, will support Tarcísio’s re-election.
Márcio França, the only one who openly made himself available for the post, has reminded people close to him that he gave up running for government in 2022 at the request of Lula himself. At the time, he supported Haddad in the government and ran for the Senate, defeated by current senator Marcos Pontes (PL).
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