With an eye on the re-election of President Lula, the PT has adopted a cautious strategy for the 2026 elections, suppressing internal concerns and postponing decisions on its nominations for state governments and the Senate until next year.
The first step towards launching negotiations was taken last week, with the formation of the Electoral Working Group, the body responsible for coordinating the party’s national strategy regarding the 2026 electoral dispute.
The group will be led by federal representative José Guimarães (PT-CE) and will be tasked with formulating three-priority measures focused on: re-electing Lula, expanding the PT’s seats in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, and ensuring strong and detailed government programs with allies.
The point is to expand negotiations, reduce tension in the states, and avoid sudden moves that could harm the national campaign.
“The priority is the re-election of President Lula,” says Edinho Silva, national president of the Workers’ Party. “We have to build strong candidates in the democratic field against this part of the organized right in Brazil that has an ideological definition inspired by fascism.”
He says that strategies will be developed according to the realities of each state, with priority given to selecting names capable of obstructing candidates allied with former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL).
Upon his appointment as GTE Coordinator, José Guimarães highlighted the North-East as a focus of the national strategy. The goal is to elect at least one senator from the Labor Party and one from an allied party in all nine states.
Another goal of the Labor Party is to ensure its presence in all states, with at least one federal representative elected for each federal unit.
In the United States, local signs point to her nominations for government and Senate, putting the primary campaign on the streets. to survey Bound It indicates that Labor has prior candidates for governor in at least 11 states and the Federal District.
Four of them are considered guaranteed names on the ballot: Governors Jerónimo Rodriguez (BA), Elmano de Freitas (CE) and Rafael Fonteles (PI), who are running for re-election, as well as Secretary Cado Xavier (RN), who has been chosen to succeed PT Governor Fátima Bezerra.
Of the four, Fontelles is in the most comfortable position and is considered the favorite in a split competition scenario. Elmano and Geronimo take the lead, but they face a difficult scenario in their respective states, with organized opposition and bottlenecks in public security.
Cado For this reason, his allies began calling him “Cado de Lula”.
In other states, the main bet is Rio Grande do Sul, where the name of former Rep. Edígar Brito appears to be in a good position in the opinion polls. But the nomination remains uncertain given calls for unity on the left.
In the Federal District, the Workers’ Party ordered the suspension of the elections that were to be held in November between former MP Geraldo Majella and Leandro Grass, president of the Ivan Institute (National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute). The guideline is that local directories do not expect applications to be defined.
Among the Senate candidates, five of the six senators whose terms expire in February 2027 have indicated that they will run for re-election. Senator Paulo Beim (PT-RS) said he would not run for a new term, but it became an option again after appeals from allies.
Outside of this group, the candidacy of Fátima Bezerra, governor of Rio Grande do Norte state, is also taken for granted. But in other states, intentions will depend on the local situation and its impact on the national scenario.
In Bahia, the definition of Governor Jerónimo Rodriguez’s re-election ticket will remain in place until next year: “We are in no hurry, and our allies know that,” says Adolfo Loyola, Secretary of State for Institutional Relations.
The base has faced tensions since 2024, when the Minister of the Civil House, Rui Costa (Labour), indicated his desire to run for the Senate and Labor began defending an authentic ticket, with Geronimo, Rui and Jack Wagner.
This strategy conflicts with the desire of Senator Angelo Coronel (PSD), who wants to run for re-election. This complex situation will require careful political handling, as the Social Democratic Party has more than a hundred city councils in Bahia and is an ally of Lula in the state.
The scenario is similar in Ceará, where Workers’ Party member José Guimarães is seeking one of the seats in the Senate, but other allied parties want to join the ticket of Governor Elmano de Freitas (Workers’ Party).
In recent weeks, Guimarães has raised his tone by criticizing PT allies in Ceará who voted against agendas of interest to Lula’s government at the National Congress. This was the case for representatives Junior Manu (PSB) and Moses Rodriguez (Uniao Brasil), who are negotiating to run for the Senate on the Workers’ Party ticket.
PT members Benedetta da Silva (RJ), Fernando Haddad (SP), Erika Cocay (DF) and Marcelo Ramos (AM) are also expected to run for the Senate.
In São Paulo, sectors of Lula’s government are also considering nominating former player Rey to the Senate or supporting allies such as Marina Silva (RED) or Simone Tippett (MDB).
While its candidates are still undetermined, the Labor Party is working to accelerate negotiations for an alliance with other parties.
The latest movement occurred in Paraná, where the party signaled its support for state Rep. Requiao Filho (PDT) in the dispute over state government.
Outside the left, parties such as the Social Democratic Party and the Malaysian Development Party should be preferred allies. PT members should support Omar Aziz (PSD) in Amazonas, Renan Filho (MDB) in Alagoas, and Hanna Ghassan (MDB) in Pará.
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