São Paulo Lawmaker-Elect Calls for State Autonomy After Lula Wins Reelection

A newly elected São Paulo state lawmaker called for a debate on the state’s independence from Brazil hours after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won reelection, then narrowed his call the next day to more power for Brazil’s states, according to the news site g1.

“The paulista pays the bill for Brazil and is obliged to submit to the will of other federal units,” Thomaz Henrique wrote on X on the night of October 25, in comments reported by g1 and translated here from Portuguese. “It is time for us to discuss, peacefully and constitutionally, our autonomy before the federation. As a state deputy elected for SP, I take on this commitment.”

Henrique, a São José dos Campos city councilman from the Liberal Party, was elected to the São Paulo Legislative Assembly on October 4 with 178,164 votes, the 11th-highest total in the state, g1 reported. He changed his profile picture to a volunteer recruitment poster from the 1932 Constitutionalist Revolution, when São Paulo took up arms against the federal government of Getúlio Vargas to demand a new constitution.

A narrower pledge

Asked by g1 to explain, Henrique first said the post “is self-explanatory.” Later on October 26, he posted a video saying that starting the discussion “is not necessarily about the defense of separatism or independence,” but about constitutional amendments that would expand the states’ legislative powers and give them “greater federal autonomy before the Union.” He told g1 he backs only more legislative autonomy for the states and pointed to a proposed amendment, PEC 47/2012, that the Senate shelved in 2022.

A São Paulo independence group, the Movimento São Paulo Independente, cheered his first post on X: “Let’s go, deputy, take the idea of São Paulo’s independence to the Legislative Assembly. Count on us!”

The Texas Nationalist Movement has ties to the group. In 2016, the MSPI invited the TNM to address its party congress, and TNM President Daniel Miller delivered remarks by video, the Texian Partisan reported at the time. His 2018 book, TEXIT, says the movement “has been successful in taking their case to the people of Sao Paulo with messaging that should seem quite familiar.” The Texian Partisan first reported on the movement after Brazil’s 2022 election.

What Brazil’s constitution says

Brazil’s constitution leaves no legal route for a state to leave. Its first article defines the country as “formed by the indissoluble union of the States and Municipalities and of the Federal District,” and Article 60 bars even considering any constitutional amendment “tending to abolish” the federal form of the state, g1 noted.

São Paulo, Brazil’s most populous state, voted for Lula’s opponent, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, 53.8 percent to 46.2 percent, according to g1. Lula carried 72 of the state’s 645 municipalities, including the city of São Paulo.

Henrique takes office on February 1, 2027.