Marinho's candidacy in São Paulo gains momentum within the PT.
Luiz Marinho, re-elected mayor of São Bernardo do Campo, is former president Lula's first choice to run for governor of São Paulo against Geraldo Alckmin of the PSDB party; although he insists he is not a candidate, many in the PT-SP leadership point to him as the "best alternative" and the "most viable candidate," according to columnist Ilimar Franco of Globo.
SP247 – The re-elected mayor of São Bernardo do Campo, Luiz Marinho, is the first name that former president Lula would choose to run for governor of São Paulo against Geraldo Alckmin of the PSDB party next year. However, he declined the invitation, and the second option for the PT leader became Minister Alexandre Padilha, of Health, the most prominent ministry in the government today.
Despite denying his candidacy, Luiz Marinho is gaining traction as a potential candidate for 2014. Many within the PT leadership in São Paulo have been saying he is the "best alternative" and "the most viable candidate," according to Ilimar Franco's column in the newspaper O Globo this Sunday. A founder of the PT, Marinho is a longtime friend of the former president, and is also the mayor of the municipality that is the birthplace of the metalworkers' union, where Lula's political career began.
Na evaluation of the former presidentIn an interview with the newspaper Valor Econômico this week, Luiz Marinho was described as a "new figure," a definition that aligns with the party's discourse of renewal, the same one used to elect the mayor of São Paulo, Fernando Haddad. interview with 247The president of the PT-SP (Workers' Party of São Paulo), Edinho Silva, does not consider the name of the mayor of São Bernardo as one of the possible candidates, stating that he "has just been re-elected".
The PT's strategy is to launch its candidate for the São Paulo election at the beginning of the second semester, in order to facilitate attracting allies, such as the PMDB, which should get the vice-presidential slot if the PT's wishes are fulfilled. It is still necessary to determine the chances of the other names considered by the party: the Minister of Education, Aloizio Mercadante, and the Minister of Finance, Guido Mantega. According to Edinho Silva, all of them are capable of running in São Paulo. The criterion, according to him, should be who can leave the federal government at this time.