Rui Costa

Rui Costa dos Santos (born 18 January 1963) is a Brazilian economist and politician who has served as the Chief of Staff of the Presidency since 1 January 2023. He previously served as governor of Bahia from January 2015 to December 2022. He is affiliated with the Workers' Party (PT). In January 2007, invited by the Governor Jaques Wagner, Rui Costa took over the Secretariat of Institutional Relations (Serin), where he stayed until 2010. In Serin, Rui developed a new model of integration between the executive and legislative state with federal entities and social movements. The initiative was enhanced with the launch of the Institutional Relationship System (SRI), designed to speed up the progress of claims and standardize care. In 2010 he was elected federal deputy for the PT, again with the highest number of votes of the PT bench. Rui Costa was chosen as the PT candidate for the State of Bahia in elections in 2014, and elected in the 1st round with 54.53% of the votes, against 37.39% of his main opponent, Paulo Souto. In 2018, he was reelected with over 75% of the votes in the first round, easily defeating Zé Ronaldo.