The Minister of Finance, (PT), announced this Thursday (19) his pre-candidacy for the Government during an event at the Metalworkers Union, in São Bernardo do Campo, the president’s political birthplace.
“When I see people saying that Haddad is going to sacrifice, it’s because that person has never had a beer with me”, joked Haddad during the night.
The minister even denied that his choice was made for political gains other than victory. He has already been mentioned as a possible name for Lula’s Civil House if the president is re-elected.
“In my case there was never a bargain. I don’t run in the election to bargain for anything, I run in the election to win. And that’s how I’m going to run in this election, which is to win. And I insist on saying that political victory is always possible. All you need to do is present yourself with a clean face, with a good project, to awaken people’s conscience. We owe this to São Paulo. The state needs to wake up”
Lula and Haddad participated in a series of events in São Paulo that marked the farewell of the Finance Minister and the beginning of the pre-campaign against the governor (Republicans), who will run for re-election.
The announcement consolidates a victory for Lula in the arm wrestling with his ally, who resisted, for months, the idea of running as a candidate in the 2026 elections. Haddad wanted to avoid another defeat in his career, after having lost the elections in 2016 (São Paulo City Hall), 2018 (Presidency of the Republic) and 2022 (Government of São Paulo).
However, the minister says he changed his mind about Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ), pre-candidate for President, in the electoral polls. Lula and Flávio are in the second round scenario of the latest Datafolha.
“We’ve all suffered defeats. [Mas] The correct way to hold an election is to go into battle to win the election, and know whose side you are going to be on, who you are going to fight for”, said Haddad in his speech.
For Haddad’s announcement, the PT prepared an event full of its staff, with federal and state deputies, councilors and historic PT members, such as former minister José Dirceu, as well as ministers Luiz Marinho (Labour), Camilo Santana (Education), Paulo Teixeira (Agrarian Development), Guilherme Boulos (General Secretariat) and the vice-president, Geraldo Alckmin.
“Write it down: Haddad will win this election,” said Alckmin. The vice-president, who was governor of São Paulo, said that the project serves to lift São Paulo out of stagnation.
Also present were Nadia Campeão, national president of PC do B; Beto Tripoli, state president of PV; and state deputy Caio França, state president of the PSB. Everyone was called to the stage to join the ministers.
“This is the beginning of a broad coalition that we will build here in São Paulo”, declared Kiko Celeguim, federal deputy and state president of the PT. Although he was not called to the stage, Antônio Neto, municipal president of the PDT, was also there.
National president of the PT, Edinho Silva highlighted the importance of announcing the pre-candidacy in the Metalworkers Union. “This is the birthplace of this entire project that we are debating today, that we are building in Brazil, here the trajectory of our president Lula, the greatest democratic leader we have in the world, began”, he declared.
“We are living in a crucial moment of advance of authoritarian thought, of advance of the ultra-right and unfortunately a moment of advance of fascism. A moment where violence remains. Where wars spread, violence spreads”, said Edinho.
The PT president added that the party presents to the people of São Paulo, the “most successful minister of the Lula government”.
“A prepared cadre, a teacher, an educator, but also a leader capable of making the changes that the Brazilian people needed.”
PT bet
On the first agenda this Thursday, at the opening of the Federative Caravan, a federal government action event, at Expo Center Norte, in the south of the capital of São Paulo, Haddad is already in charge of the Treasury.
Afterwards, Haddad accompanied the president in a tribute to the former president of Uruguay Pepe Mujica at UFABC (Federal University of ABC), in São Bernardo.
Lula’s insistence on Haddad took into account the minister’s performance during the 2022 election, when he faced Tarcísio in the dispute for the São Paulo government. Even though he was defeated in the second round, Haddad achieved a result seen as important for Lula at national level.
In 2018, Haddad received 7.2 million votes in the second round of the presidential election in the state. Four years later, Lula received 11.5 million. The extra votes were seen by the PT leadership as a result of the PT campaign in the state, something that the party seeks to repeat.
According to , Tarcísio de Freitas received 44% of the votes in the first round, followed by Haddad, with 31%. For PT members, it is important that the minister presents a performance that guarantees, at least, the second round contest in the state to give Lula a prolonged platform in the largest electoral college in the country.
