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The 2026 Minas Gerais gubernatorial election will be held in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, on Sunday 4 October 2026. Voters will elect a Governor, Vice Governor, two Senators, 53 representatives for the Chamber of Deputies, and 77 Legislative Assembly members. If no candidate for president or governor receives a majority of the valid votes in the first round, a runoff election is held on 25 October.
Incumbent governor Romeu Zema of the New Party (NOVO), reelected in 2022 with 56.18% of the vote in the first round, is term-limited and ineligible to run for a third consecutive term. Incumbent senators Rodrigo Pacheco of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and Carlos Viana of Podemos (PODE) are completing their eight-year terms and are eligible to run for reelection or other offices.
Incumbent governor Romeu Zema was reelected in the first round of the 2022 election with 56.18% of the vote, defeating Alexandre Kalil of the Social Democratic Party (PSD). Zema, a businessman who was originally elected in 2018 as a political outsider, solidified his administration's liberal economic agenda during his first term. Because he served a full term and was subsequently reelected in 2022, he is constitutionally barred from seeking a third consecutive period in executive office.
Zema governs alongside Vice Governor Mateus Simões, elected on the New Party (NOVO) ticket in 2022. In a strategic move to broaden the coalition for the 2026 succession, Simões affiliated with the Social Democratic Party (PSD) in late 2025. Unlike the friction seen in other states, this switch was publicly endorsed by Zema, positioning Simões as the continuity candidate in an alliance between the governor's group and the powerful political machine led by Gilberto Kassab.
Senators in Brazil serve an 8-year term, meaning the incumbents were elected in 2018.
Rodrigo Pacheco, a lawyer and former Federal Deputy, was elected to the Senate in 2018 as a member of the Democrats (DEM). He later joined the PSD and served as President of the Federal Senate (2021âÂÂ2025), raising his profile to a national level. He is eligible for reelection.
Carlos Viana, a journalist and former TV presenter, holds the second Senate seat. He was elected in 2018 via the Humanist Party of Solidarity (PHS), as the candidate of the popular Belo Horizonte mayor Alexandre Kalil, but has since changed parties multiple times, including stints in the PSD, MDB, and PL. In 2022, he ran for Governor of Minas Gerais with the support of Jair Bolsonaro but finished a distant third. Currently affiliated with Podemos (PODE), he is eligible to run for a second term in the Senate.
The first round is scheduled for 4 October 2026, with a second round (if necessary) on 25 October 2026.
Second-round simulations (where available):