Marina Silva spoke with PT president about candidacy for the Senate in São Paulo

The Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva (Rede), stated that she may run for a seat in the Federal Senate for São Paulo in this year’s elections. She said she was “willing” to participate in electoral construction in the state that “replaced her on the political scene”, in addition to reporting that she was being sought after by “several parties”. The minister considered that the decision to define “the best way to contribute” will be based on a meeting with former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).

— I see myself in the design of the construction for the Senate. São Paulo helped save my biological life and put me back on the political scene in an incredible way, when I didn’t even want to be a candidate anymore. And now, I’m willing to do this construction — said Marina, this Thursday, in an interview with Rede TV.

The minister said she was evaluating a departure from her current party, Rede Sustentabilidade, and highlighted that she feels “very honored” by the search for other parties “from the popular democratic field, with a commitment to democracy”. According to a GLOBO report published last week, PT interlocutors claim that there is already “almost a marriage” between the party and Marina.

— I’m talking to the PT, yes, and I had a very good first conversation with Edinho (Silva, president of the party). A conversation has already taken place with the president of Psol, Paula Coradi. There are requests for conversations from PSB, PV, various parties. An analysis is being carried out,” he said.

According to her, the objective is to form a political arrangement capable of benefiting Lula in the presidential elections in São Paulo. At the same time, the PT, according to GLOBO columnist Lauro Jardim, is already carrying out research to measure the electoral viability of Planning Minister, Simone Tebet (MDB), for a possible run for the Senate in the state.

Marina also mentioned the possible candidacy of the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, for the São Paulo government, who has been asked to join the dispute despite expressing no desire to go to the polls:

— A lot of people say: “they are putting pressure on Haddad”. I don’t see it as pressure. I see it as recognition of the leadership he is, of the importance he has — highlighted Marina. — He took a difficult election (2022) in São Paulo to the second round, which was fundamental to Lula’s victory. His leadership is once again decisive.

This Thursday, Haddad mocked the demand from the Minister of Institutional Relations, Gleisi Hoffmann (PT-PR), for him to be a candidate. According to her, “all the best professionals have to wear the shirt and do what they know how to do best in the competition”, to which the minister reacted: “I’m celebrating Gleisi having praised me”.

Conditions for Marina’s candidacy

Elected federal deputy in 2022, Marina rules out running for a seat in the Chamber this year. GLOBO also found that it is “unlikely” that the minister will go to the polls if Haddad is also a candidate for the Senate, instead of running for government.

As a result, the PT’s assessment is that, until a final decision by the Minister of Finance, the scenario regarding a candidacy from the environmentalist remains open. The PT wishes to repeat in São Paulo the strategy developed in Paraná, with a minister in the race for the Senate as a way of strengthening the party’s presence in the Legislature and the re-election of President Lula.

Marina’s departure from the Network is expected to occur in the first months of this year. The minister’s allies published, in December, a manifesto against the party’s national leadership. They criticize changes in party statutes and claim that there is internal persecution against the environmentalist.

The tension in Marina’s relationship with the party deepened in April last year with the defeat of the environmentalist’s candidate to the candidate supported by federal deputy Heloísa Helena, who has broken with the minister since 2022.

While Marina defines herself as a “sustainabilityist” and chose to join the Lula administration as Minister of the Environment, Heloísa positions herself as opposition to the Planalto and defends “ecosocialism”, a current that associates environmental preservation with change in the economic system.