Senator Mara Gabrilli (PSDB-SP)| Photo: Marcos Oliveira/Agência Senado

Senator Mara Gabrilli announced via social media that she will leave the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) after 19 years to join the Social Democratic Party (PSD), of former mayor Gilberto Kassab.

“Thank you, José Serra, for opening the doors to politics for me. Serra and Gilberto Kassab were the biggest drivers of my trajectory. I leave with gratitude from @PSDBoficial to @PSD_55, taking with me the mission to continue working for Brazil”, he wrote on twitter.

With the arrival of Mara to the PSD in the Senate, the same party as President Rodrigo Pacheco, who must still have the affiliation of Senator Eliziane Gama, the bench becomes the largest in the Senate with 16 senators.

Mara is serving her first term as a senator and was a candidate for Simone Tebet’s vice-president in the last presidential election. For two consecutive terms, she was a federal deputy and councilor in São Paulo. She is a member of the Social Affairs committees; Foreign Affairs and National Defense; and that of Transparency.