André Janones received 78,780 votes in Minas Gerais in the first round of the 2026 election, a 67% drop from the 238,967 votes he won in 2022. He had been the state’s second-most-voted federal deputy candidate that year, behind Nikolas Ferreira of the PL, who received about 1.5 million votes.

In Ituiutaba, Janones’ hometown in the Triângulo Mineiro region, his vote total fell by 72.5%, from 23,200 in 2022 to 6,381 in 2026. The city has around 107,000 residents, and he had led the federal deputy vote there in the previous election.

The figures are from the first round, held on the 4th, before Janones’ digital campaigning for Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the presidential runoff. Janones told Folha that he had devoted little effort to campaigning for himself, focusing instead on Lula’s reelection. He said he visited Minas Gerais only twice during the first round and expected his vote total to fall, adding that he had even considered the possibility of not being elected.

Janones first ran for elected office in 2016, seeking the mayoralty of Ituiutaba, where he finished second. He began his first term as a federal deputy for Minas Gerais in 2019, after winning a seat in 2018 with 178,660 votes. He was elected to a second term in 2022, then representing Avante; in 2026, he ran for Rede.

His political profile grew through social media. A video he recorded in 2018 in support of a truckers’ strike drew wide attention and helped establish him as a prominent online voice. In 2022, he withdrew an attempted presidential bid to support Lula and took on a role in the campaign’s digital outreach.

Janones said the decline in his vote reflected his limited campaigning in the state. He has also faced political and legal controversies, including a three-month suspension from his mandate in July 2025 for lack of parliamentary decorum. The source report says he admitted to an agreement related to “rachadinha” in 2025, while he denies allegations in a case involving his former wife, which is under seal.

In the 2026 presidential election, Ituiutaba was the only city with more than 50,000 residents in the Triângulo Mineiro and Alto Paranaíba regions where Lula won in both rounds. Lula received 45.76% of valid votes there in the first round, narrowly ahead of Flávio Bolsonaro’s 45.34%, and increased his share to 54.04% in the runoff, compared with 45.96% for the PL candidate.

Sources: Folha Poder.