Márcio Miguel Bittar (born 28 June 1963) is a Brazilian politician. Although born in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, he has spent his political career representing

Acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

, serving as federal senator since 2019. He was previously served in the chamber of deputies from 1991 to 2003 and from 2011 to 2015, and served in the state legislature from 1995 to 1999.

Personal life

Bittar was born in

Franca Franca is a municipality in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The city is located in the northeastern portion of the state, distant 401 km (249 mi) from the state capital São Paulo, and 676 km (420 mi) from Brasilia. It covers a total area of 60 ...

to Mamédio Bittar and Manife Miguel Bittar. He grew up in

Cuiabá Cuiabá () is the capital city and the largest city of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. It is located near the geographical centre of South America and also forms the metropolitan area of Mato Grosso, along with the neighbouring town of Várz ...

and Jauru in the state of

Mato Grosso Mato Grosso ( – ) is one of the states of Brazil, the List of Brazilian states by area, third largest by area, located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible ...

. In his youth he was part of several militant leftist communist and socialists groups, but in his university years he joined the center-right

PMDB The Brazilian Democratic Movement (, MDB) is a Brazilian political party. It is considered a " big tent party" and it is one of the parties with the greatest representation throughout the national territory, with the most numbers of senators, m ...

. Bittar is married to Márcia Bittar, and is the father of 4 children and as of 2018 lives in Rio Branco. Before becoming a politician he worked as a farmer, and political scientist.

Political career

Bittar served as state deputy in the state legislature of Acre from 1995 to 1999. He was then elected to and served in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

for three consecutive terms from 1991 to 2003. From 1997 to 2003 he was the vice-leader of the Popular Socialist Party in the federal legislature. Bittar returned to the lower house for one term from 2011 to 2014, but elected not to run for re-election but instead run for governor of Acre. In the second round of the 2014 election though he narrowly lost by around 10,000 votes to eventual winner

Tião Viana Sebastião Afonso Viana Macedo Neves, better known as Tião Viana ( Rio Branco, February 9, 1961), is a doctor and Brazilian politician. He was formerly Governor of Acre and is a member of the Workers' Party. He served as interim President of the ...

. In 2017 after having disagreements with his then political party the

PSDB The Brazilian Social Democracy Party (, PSDB), also known as the Brazilian Social Democratic Party or the Party of Brazilian Social Democracy,. is a centre-right political party in Brazil. As the formerly third largest party in the National ...

, Bittar rejoined the PMDB. In the

2018 Brazilian general election General elections were held in Brazil on 7 October 2018 to elect the president, National Congress of Brazil, National Congress and Governor (Brazil), state governors. As no candidate in the presidential election (and for the gubernatorial electi ...

Bittar was elected to the federal senate, coincidentally beating Viana who was also running for a seat in the senate. Despite his early left-wing involvement, today politically Bittar is considered strongly

economically liberal Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalism, ...

and

socially conservative Social conservatism is a political philosophy and a variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional social structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institu ...

. Ideologically Bittar identifies himself as a

liberal conservative Liberal conservatism is a political ideology combining conservative policies with liberal stances, especially on economic issues but also on social and ethical matters, representing a brand of political conservatism strongly influenced by libe ...

. Highly critical of the

Workers' Party Workers' Party is a name used by several political parties throughout the world. The name has been used by both organisations on the left and right of the political spectrum. It is currently used by followers of Marxism, Marxism–Leninism, Maoism ...

's handling of the economy, Bittar was a vocal supporter of limiting government spending and the 2017 Brazil labor reform. Bittar was a supporter of

Jair Bolsonaro Jair Messias Bolsonaro (; born 21 March 1955) is a Brazilian politician and former military officer who served as the 38th president of Brazil from 2019 to 2023. He previously served as a member of Brazil's Chamber of Deputies (Brazil), Chamb ...

presidential campaign A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referen ...

, who in turn endorsed Bittar in his senate race.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bittar, Marcio 1963 births Living people People from Franca Brazilian farmers Brazilian political scientists Cidadania politicians Brazilian Democratic Movement politicians Brazil Union politicians Members of the Federal Senate (Brazil) Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Brazil) from Acre Members of the Legislative Assembly of Acre