This article analyzes legislative recruitment of senators who used to be businessmen before entering politics under current Brazilian democracy. We examine whether, as established for the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies, this kind of professional politician settles mostly in the parties on the right of the ideological spectrum and whether or not the connection between their social backgrounds and the parties they take part eventually shorten their ways to the Senate. For that, we use descriptive analysis of occupation, education, and political career data of 240 senators elected between 1986 and 2010. Our data show that even though they belong to Center and Right parties, senators who were businessmen do not have shorter careers, showing that the pattern of political career for that office is different from that observed for the Chamber of Deputies.
Senators; businessmen; political career; legislative recruitment; economic elite
