Senator Carlos Portinho (PL), candidate for re-election from Rio de Janeiro, gave an interview to GLOBO this week, as part of the series presenting the ideas and proposals of the main candidates for the two Senate seats for the state. In the conversation, he talked about his approach to Bolsonaroism and about defending the impeachment of Supreme Court (STF) ministers.
Portinho arrived in the Senate through PSD, where he was the substitute for Senator Arolde de Oliveira, who died in 2020. Currently, he presents himself as a Bolsonaro supporter and was questioned about who changed the most in this process, whether the party or himself.
According to the senator himself, the change to PL happened because he saw more political space in the party of Valdemar Costa Neto, which at the time had only two senators. He stated that in PSD, which had 15 senators, he had no space. Portinho highlighted that he prepared himself to be in the Senate, denying that he parachuted into politics.
The senator also clarified that when he migrated to PL, President Jair Bolsonaro was not yet a member of that party. In other words, according to Portinho, he went to Valdemar Costa Neto's PL, and not directly to Jair Bolsonaro's PL.
