Institutional Relations Minister Gleisi Hoffmann threw Finance Minister Fernando Haddad under the bus on Wednesday, by saying government members must adhere to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s call to seek down-ballot offices in order to strengthen the party’s grassroots momentum amid Lula’s re-election quest.
“Everyone has to step onto the field, pull on the team jersey, and do what they do best in an electoral contest,” Hoffmann told journalists on Wednesday. “That is why I believe all of our leading figures, including Minister Haddad, should run for office. We need to take the fight to the states and challenge the far right.”
Haddad has resisted calls to run for governor of São Paulo, a race he would be unlikely to win. While the Workers’ Party (PT) has successfully won three mayoral elections in São Paulo — most recently under Haddad himself in 2012 — it has long struggled beyond the state capital, as voters in the interior of São Paulo remain deeply conservative.
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