André do Prado is elected senator for São Paulo with the support of Tarcísio and Flávio Bolsonaro

The victory consolidates the strategy articulated by Tarcísio, who defended Prado's name to form the right-wing Senate ticket – together with Guilherme Derrite (PP), also elected – and was his main electoral campaigner during the campaign. Candidate for the Presidency of the Republic for PL, senator Flávio Bolsonaro also declared public support and participated in events with André do Prado in São Paulo.

Born in Guararema, in the Alto Tietê region, André do Prado is 57 years old and has a career spanning more than three decades in politics, always affiliated with the PL of Valdemar Costa Neto, his political godfather. Since the 1990s, he has been a councilor for two terms, president of the City Council, vice-mayor and mayor of his hometown – a position he held between 2005 and 2008.

The leap into state politics occurred in 2010. Invited by the PL leadership to reorganize the São Paulo party structure, he was elected state deputy with 86,346 votes, becoming at the time the only representative of the party in the Assembly. He was re-elected in 2014, 2018 and 2022, when he won 216,268 votes and reached his fourth consecutive term.

Previously unknown to the general public, Prado gained prominence when he became president of Alesp, in 2023, during Tarcísio's administration in government. Throughout the last legislature, the parliamentarian led votes on central state administration proposals – including the privatization of Sabesp – and helped maintain a broad base of support for the governor in the Legislature.

The construction of the candidacy, however, did not occur without resistance within the conservative camp. André do Prado's main critic was former minister Ricardo Salles (Novo), who also intended to run for a seat in the Senate. During the campaign, Salles stated that the state deputy represented Centrão, and not the ideological right, and used to refer to him as a "pupil" of Valdemar Costa Neto, national president of the PL.

In the final stretch of the campaign, however, Salles withdrew from the candidacy and announced support for André do Prado and Guilherme Derrite alongside the governor. When justifying the decision, he stated that differences needed to be left aside given what he called the risk of a new election for President Lula (PT).

During the 45 days of the campaign, Prado sought to associate his image with the Tarcísio administration and toured cities in the interior, the Metropolitan Region and the coast of São Paulo accompanied by mayors, councilors and PL leaders.