Rogerio Marinho

Rogério Simonetti Marinho is a Brazilian economist and politician, affiliated with the Liberal Party (PL) and a native of Natal, the capital of Rio Grande do Norte. He is also the grandson of former federal deputy Djalma Marinho.

Political Career

Rogério Marinho began his political career in the 1994 elections, but was not elected. In 2000, he was elected alternate city councilor for the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB) , serving as interim councilor between March 2001 and March 2003. In 2004, he achieved his first public office as a city councilor with 9,009 votes. During his first term as a full member of the Natal City Council , he was responsible for creating the Federation of Municipal House of Representativess (FECAM/RN) and implementing the digital inclusion program in Rio Grande do Norte. Furthermore, he presided over the City Council between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2006.

Marinho served two terms as a federal deputy, from 2007 to 2012 and from 2015 to 2019. In 2012, he ran for mayor but was not elected; however, in the same year, he was appointed by Governor Rosalba Ciarlini as Secretary of Economic Development of Rio Grande do Norte. As secretary, he implemented the Pró-Sertão program, aimed at attracting clothing companies to the interior of the state, and the Mais RN strategic planning initiative. He left the position in January 2014 to dedicate himself for the second time to his candidacy for federal deputy, being elected as the sixth most voted in the election, and the most voted in Natal.

In December 2018, he was announced by Economy Minister Paulo Guedes as Special Secretary for Social Security and Labor in the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government. As Secretary, he focused the first year of his tenure on the Social Security Reform, being one of those responsible for the base text sent to the Legislative Branch and for coordinating its approval, frequently going to the House of Representatives to defend aspects of the reform. He is currently serving his first term as a senator for the state of Rio Grande do Norte.

Performance in the National Congress

In 2016, he was president of the Mixed Parliamentary Front in Defense of Commerce, Services and Entrepreneurship (CSE), one of the largest in the National Congress, which had the support of almost three hundred parliamentarians. He was also chosen as rapporteur of the special commission that analyzed the modernization of labor laws in Brazil. He coordinated the PSDB caucus in the House of Representatives's Education Committee , being one of the main defenders of the high school reform and the "School Without Political Parties" project.

As a federal deputy, he voted in favor of the admissibility of the impeachment process against Dilma Rousseff (PT) . During Michel Temer 's government, he voted in favor of the PEC of the Public Spending Ceiling. In April 2017, he was in favor of the Labor Reform. In August 2017, he voted against the process that requested the opening of an investigation against President Michel Temer, helping to shelve the complaint from the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office.

Among his main achievements are:

• He is the author of Bill 9858/20218 , which amends Law No. 13,260, of March 16, 2016, to address the terrorist activity of social movements.

• Author of Law 12971/2014 , which establishes the Brazilian Traffic Code, to provide for administrative sanctions and traffic crimes.

• The author of Bill 1558/2014 , which "provides for heinous crimes, under the terms of article 5, item XLIII, of the Federal Constitution, and determines other measures," to include human trafficking in the list of heinous crimes.

In January 2023, the Liberal Party launched Marinho's candidacy in the race for the presidency of the Senate. In the presidential election, the senator was unsuccessful and was defeated by Senator Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD/MG) , who, with the support of the Lula (PT) government, won 49 votes against 32 votes for Rogério Marinho, an ally of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) .