Pacheco Tells PT He Does Not Intend to Run for Minas Governor

Overview

• Senator Rodrigo Pacheco told PT chief Edinho Silva he would not be a candidate in a meeting on Tuesday during the TSE swearing-in in Brasília, though he agreed to speak with President Lula before a final word.
• PT leaders keep pressing for him as Lula’s preferred name and Edinho said the talks stay open while he consults the party’s Minas leadership.
• With Pacheco resistant, ex–Belo Horizonte mayor Alexandre Kalil of the PDT is being positioned as the leading alternative, and PT figure Marília Campos urged the party to rally behind him.
• The rival PSD moved to back incumbent governor Mateus Simões with support from former governor Romeu Zema, reshaping the field in Brazil’s second-largest electorate.
• Pacheco has weighed leaving public life and was reportedly courted for an audit court seat at the TCU, and he also floated PSB figures Josué Gomes and Jarbas Soares as potential stand-ins.