Federal lawmaker Aécio Neves (PSDB) announced on Friday (28) that he will run for the Senate in Minas Gerais on the ticket of Alexandre Kalil (PDT), the former Belo Horizonte mayor who is running for governor of the state. The announcement was made at a press conference at the PSDB headquarters in Belo Horizonte, alongside party allies, according to the newspaper O Tempo. The seat only opened up because the PDT withdrew its own candidate.
On Wednesday (26), Marcelo Heringer (PDT), brother of the party's state leader Mário Heringer, dropped out of the Senate race. On Thursday (27), Gustavo Galassi (PSDB) followed. Each had polled at 1% in the latest Quaest survey, according to Estado de Minas. With both withdrawals, Aécio will be the only Senate candidate of the PSDB-Cidadania federation on Kalil's ticket. Minas Gerais, Brazil's second-largest electoral college, will fill two of its three Senate seats this year.
The move was brokered by the parties themselves. On Wednesday, the PSDB-Cidadania federation and the PDT published a joint note urging Aécio to enter the race. The text, signed by Mário Heringer and by lawmaker Paulo Abi-Ackel, the PSDB president in Minas, cited requests from mayors, council members and state deputies and ended with an appeal:
"Aécio, listen to this call. Minas needs you in the Senate."
Aécio, a former governor of Minas Gerais and the national president of the PSDB, had said on August 4 that he would not run for any office and would focus on leading his party. On Friday, he explained the reversal. "I return to the game, I return to the electoral race, out of responsibility to Minas Gerais and with the awareness that I can, indeed, help Minas face and overcome its very serious difficulties. Let the people say what they think of this decision", he said, according to Estado de Minas. If elected, he said he plans to form a "Resistance Caucus" in the Senate to bring together indebted states and press for the renegotiation of Propag, the federal fiscal recovery program for state debts.
The alliance marks a turnaround for Kalil. In 2022, he ran for governor alongside President Lula (PT). This year, he rejected a new deal with the PT and closed a coalition with the PSDB instead. Two weeks ago, in an interview with UOL, Kalil acknowledged the electoral interest behind the agreement: "If we don't have a senator, we will lose television time", he said, referring to Brazil's regulated free airtime for campaigns. On Friday, Aécio dismissed any contradiction in the partnership and invoked Tancredo Neves, his grandfather and a defining figure of Minas politics: "If we were apart in the past, nothing prevents us from being together today".
The swap is allowed because Brazilian electoral law permits candidate substitution in cases of withdrawal up to 20 days before the vote. According to Estado de Minas, the final deadline is September 14. The election is scheduled for October 4.