Overview
- Rico Melquiades, winner of A Fazenda 13, announced his PSDB affiliation and said he will run for a federal deputy seat representing Alagoas.
- PSDB’s official account shared his launch post, and local coverage says his entry fits the party’s push to grow its footprint in Alagoas.
- In campaign-style posts on X, he pledged plastic surgery access for everyone, a new cash benefit he called a “bolsa maconha,” and a weekly right for workers to slap their bosses, even though recreational marijuana is illegal in Brazil.
- He is leaning on a large digital base, with about 11 to 11.8 million Instagram followers, and he used Instagram Stories to offer Pix transfers to people who drove engagement on his pledge post.
- His record includes 2025 testimony to the Senate’s CPI das Bets about gambling promotion, where he was pressed about a multimillion-real fine and replied that Congress had allowed it.