José Mendonça Bezerra Filho, born in Recife/PE on July 12, 1966, holds a degree in Business Administration from the University of Pernambuco (UPE) and completed a course in Public Management at the Kennedy School, the School of Government at Harvard University (USA). He served as Minister of Education during the Michel Temer administration. He represented Pernambuco, having previously served as governor, federal deputy for three terms, and state deputy on two occasions. He is the son of former federal deputy José Mendonça Bezerra and is married to Taciana Vilaça Mendonça , daughter of former minister Marcos Vilaça.

Political career

Mendonça Filho began his political career in 1986, at the age of 20, when he was elected state deputy for the Liberal Front Party (PFL) in Pernambuco. He was a Constituent Deputy and contributed to the drafting of the Constitution of Pernambuco in 1989. In 1991, he was appointed Secretary of Agriculture in the government of Joaquim Francisco (1991/1995). Among his achievements, he was responsible for creating the Water for All Program for the construction of water pipelines to facilitate water distribution in the state. He also created a land reform program that distributed 13,000 land titles to farmers in the sugarcane region in exchange for debt from sugar mill owners. He is the president of the Parliamentary Front for the Business Environment (FPN), created in 2025.

In 1994, he was elected federal deputy for Pernambuco by the PFL party, a position he held between 1995 and 1998. In 1998, he was elected governor of Pernambuco as vice-governor on the ticket headed by Jarbas Vasconcelos (PMDB) , who were re-elected in 2002. Among his achievements in government, he coordinated investment attraction , enabling projects such as the Abreu e Lima Refinery, the Atlântico Sul Shipyard, the expansion and consolidation of the Port of Suape, programs such as Águas de Pernambuco (Water of Pernambuco), Estradas para o Desenvolvimento (Roads for Development), the implementation of Experimental Teaching Centers (Full-Time Schools), and the Digital Port. He also coordinated the privatization process of CELPE .

In April 2006, he assumed the governorship of Pernambuco following the resignation of Jarbas Vasconcelos, who left the position to run for a Senate seat. Among the projects created during Mendonça Filho's administration are the Democratic University, which guaranteed free access to the University of Pernambuco for young people from the state public school system; the Young Champion program, which involved the construction of multi-sports courts in state schools; and the Integrated Action for Security.

He ran for re-election as governor in 2006, but was unsuccessful. He also ran for mayor of Recife in the 2008 municipal election, coming in second place, and ran again in the 2012 municipal election, finishing in fourth place. In 2011 he was again elected federal deputy, and re-elected in 2014.

In 2016, Mendonça Filho was appointed Minister of Education by President Michel Temer, a position he held until 2018. During his tenure, he implemented important educational reforms and programs that had a significant impact on the Brazilian education system. Among his main achievements are:

• The 2017 reform of secondary education, which made the curriculum more flexible and allowed students to choose areas of knowledge according to their interests and aptitudes;
• The Brazilian National Common Curriculum Base (BNCC) defines the minimum content that all Brazilian students should learn in basic education , from early childhood education to high school.
• National literacy policy, which sought to improve educational indicators in this area ;
• The Program to Promote the Implementation of Full-Time High Schools, which sought to expand the number of schools offering full-time education ;
• The Pedagogical Residency Program , which sought to improve teacher training .

In the 2018 elections, he was considered a potential vice-presidential candidate on Geraldo Alckmin's (PSDB) ticket , but instead ran for the Federal Senate in Pernambuco, finishing third with 19.58% of the vote. In the 2020 municipal elections, Mendonça Filho ran for mayor of Recife for the third time, obtaining 25.11% of the valid votes in the first round, but failed to advance to the second round. In 2022, he was elected federal deputy for the fourth time, this time representing União Brasil, with 121,427 votes.

Performance in the House of Representatives

During his terms as a federal deputy, Mendonça Filho has distinguished himself through his work on issues related to education, economic development, and public policies aimed at improving public administration. Among his main achievements are:

• Rapporteur of Constitutional Amendment 16/1997 , which allowed the reelection of the President of the Republic, governors, and mayors;
• Rapporteur for Bill 5230/23, which establishes the New High School curriculum ;
• Author of Bill 2120/2023 , which establishes a legal framework for digital platforms , one of the alternatives to Bill 2630, the so-called Fake News Bill.

In 2016, he was one of the federal deputies who voted in favor of the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff . He voted in favor of several economic reforms, such as the Labor Reform in 2017 and the Tax Reform of 2023. In the current legislature, he is the vice-leader of the opposition to the Lula government in the House of Representatives.