By Mateo Bueno Sá
Brazil's Liberal Party (PL) has moved into campaign mode over the leadership of the Senate. On Tuesday (November 10), the party's national president, Valdemar Costa Neto, recorded a video for social media calling on party members to work for the election of Senator Rogério Marinho (PL-RN) as president of the upper house of Congress. The message was direct: no one should stay on the sidelines.
A call to the whole party
Valdemar did not address only lawmakers in Brasília. He called on city councillors, mayors, state deputies and federal deputies to "get firmly" into the effort. Their task is to put pressure on senators and ask them to vote for the PL's candidate.
"We are firm in the campaign of Rogério Marinho for the presidency of the Senate. This is very important for our entire party," the party leader said.
Pressure on senators from other parties
The most significant request in the video concerned senators outside the PL. Valdemar told allies to approach senators from other parties as well. The arithmetic is simple: one party alone cannot elect the Senate president, so the PL wants to widen the support for its candidacy beyond its own bloc of senators.
"We want to ask our councillors, mayors, state deputies and federal deputies to get firmly into this campaign, to pressure and ask senators, even from other parties, that, for the good of Brazil, they elect Rogério Marinho president of the Senate," he said.
Closing the recording, Valdemar stressed that the party considers Marinho's election necessary for leading the chamber. "We need Rogério in the Federal Senate. I count on all of you," he concluded.
Why the Senate presidency matters
The Senate presidency, which is a leadership post in the National Congress, sets the agenda of the floor and the pace of votes in the chamber. For that reason, Valdemar's mobilization goes beyond an internal contest. As the party leader made clear, the PL treats the post as a priority for the whole party.
The strategy also shows how the party intends to act. Instead of waiting for backroom deals, Valdemar made the call public and took the campaign to social media, aiming to mobilize the PL's municipal and state bases to speak with senators.
The next step is to see whether the push wins votes beyond the PL's bloc. Senators from other parties, the direct target of Valdemar's request, have not yet publicly signaled how they will vote.
VDD Analysis
By putting the party's entire structure on the street, from councillors to federal deputies, Valdemar shows that the PL sees the Senate presidency as central to blocking a agenda of more taxes and more state power. Now the PL must turn mobilization into concrete votes, which depends on persuading senators from other parties.
