Who is Rui Costa?
Rui Costa, born in 1963, built his career in Bahia's PT and governed the state for two terms from 2015 to 2022. Lula named him Chief of Staff of the Presidency in December 2022, and he held the post for about three years and three months, running the PAC investment programme and acting as a filter on other ministries' proposals. He left on 2 April 2026 to run for the Senate on the ticket headed by Governor Jerônimo Rodrigues. On 4 October 2026 he was elected, with 29.06 percent of valid votes, alongside Jaques Wagner, for eight-year terms starting in 2027. Reports say he wants to return to the Bahia governorship in 2030.
Previously: Chief of Staff of the Presidency (Casa Civil) under Lula (January 2023 to April 2026) · Governor of Bahia (2015-2022)
Documented positions
- In April 2023 he said the new fiscal framework would go to Congress that month and that the government was confident of approval in the first half of the year.Source: infomoney.com.br
- He led the launch of the new PAC, the Growth Acceleration Program, which became the flagship of Lula's third term.Source: atarde.com.br
- He acted as a filter, blocking projects from other ministries that he judged inconsistent, which Lula reportedly valued.Source: folhape.com.br
- In 2019, as governor, he said he favoured the federal pension reform but not all of it, rejected the capitalisation model and called it unacceptable to move pension rules from the Constitution to a complementary law.Source: bahianoticias.com.br
- In December 2018 his government announced an administrative reform cutting about 800 commissioned posts and asked the Assembly to authorise selling the fishing company Bahia Pesca.Source: bnews.com.br
- In October 2025 he confirmed his Senate bid, called for unity among the coalition parties including the PSD, and criticised the PEC da Blindagem, saying the Senate had shelved it.Source: bahianoticias.com.br
- On his last day at the Casa Civil he joined Lula to announce funds for Salvador's metro and VLT.Source: folhape.com.br
Record
At the Casa Civil he had frictions with other ministers, above all Finance Minister Fernando Haddad, and Lula called him his "Dilma de calças". The PAC did not become the defining brand of the government, and budget cuts steered investment toward local projects. Earlier, in February 2015, a Bahia police operation in Salvador's Cabula neighbourhood left 12 people dead; Costa refused to meet Amnesty International and defended officers, and in July 2015 a judge acquitted nine officers in a ruling critics called unusually fast, with appeals possible.
Supporters credit him with coordinating the federal government and with Bahia's PT wins. Critics, including rights groups such as Amnesty International, charge that his response to police violence in Bahia was inadequate.
