Emídio Pereira de Souza

Emidio Pereira de Souza (May 22, 1959), better known as Emidio de Souza, is a Brazilian lawyer and politician affiliated with the Workers’ Party (PT). He served two terms as mayor of Osasco and is currently serving his third term as a state deputy for São Paulo.

Biography

The son of migrants from the Northeast Region, Emídio was born in the town of Inúbia Paulista, in the interior of São Paulo. At the age of 13, he moved to Osasco, where he began working as a metalworker.

In the , he ran for city council as a candidate for the PT. He was elected and served in the seventh term of the Osasco City Council, where he remained until 1992. Emídio was defeated in the first round by (PTB) by a margin of 12,000 votes. Following his defeat, he ran for the office of State Deputy of São Paulo in and was elected after receiving more than 100,000 votes. In , he ran again for mayor of Osasco, defeating (PSDB) in the runoff election, surpassing the 200,000-vote mark, beating Giglio by just over 20,000 votes. He ran for reelection in , defeating two former mayors of the city, (PSDB) and Francisco Rossi (PMDB), in the first round.

In 2013, Emidio was elected State Chairman of the Workers’ Party in São Paulo, leading the party in the state until May 2017. After serving as head of the São Paulo chapter, he took on another role within the party's leadership, joining the PT's National Secretariat for Finance and Planning, a position he held until February 2020.

In 2018, he ran for the office of state deputy in São Paulo and was elected to his second term in the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo (Alesp). During Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's detention, he served as Lula's attorney while he was in custody in Curitiba, visiting him daily and participating in negotiations with the Federal Police (PF). In , he ran for a third term as mayor of Osasco. Although he had already served two terms as mayor of the city, he finished in third place in an election won by (PODE).

In 2022, he ran again for state representative in São Paulo and was elected to a third term after receiving more than 150,000 votes. He ran for mayor of Osasco again in . By a margin of more than 225,000 votes, he was defeated in the first round by Gerson Pessoa (PODE). In the 2026 São Paulo state election, he was responsible for coordinating Fernando Haddad's campaign for governor, as well as overseeing the government's policy platform.

Electoral performance

Personal life Emídio is Catholic. The couple got divorced. The couple has a daughter. Both are personal friends of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.