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Agustín Rossi
Agustín Rossi
	Rossi in 2023
Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers
	In office; 15 February 2023 – 10 December 2023
President	Alberto Fernández
Preceded by	Juan Luis Manzur
Succeeded by	Nicolás Posse
Minister of Defense
	In office; 10 December 2019 – 10 August 2021
President	Alberto Fernández
Preceded by	Oscar Aguad
Succeeded by	Jorge Taiana
	In office; 3 June 2013 – 10 December 2015
President	Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Preceded by	Arturo Puricelli
Succeeded by	Julio Martínez
National Deputy
	In office; 10 December 2017 – 10 December 2019
Constituency	Santa Fe
	In office; 10 December 2005 – 3 June 2013
Constituency	Santa Fe
Personal details
Born	18 October 1959 (age 65); Vera, Santa Fe, Argentina
Political party	Justicialist Party
Other political; affiliations	Front for Victory (2003–2017); Unidad Ciudadana (2017–2019); Frente de Todos (2019–2023); Union for the Homeland (since 2023)
Spouse	María Raquel Pezzelato
Children	4
Alma mater	National University of Rosario
Profession	Civil engineer
Nickname	Chivo

Agustín Oscar Rossi (born 18 October 1959) is an Argentine Justicialist Party politician. Rossi has held a number of important political posts throughout his career, most notably as Minister of Defense during the presidencies of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (2013–2015) and Alberto Fernández (2019–2021).

Rossi was a National Deputy for his native Santa Fe, and served as leader of the Front for Victory parliamentary bloc in the lower house. Since 15 February 2023, Rossi has been Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers to the incumbent president Alberto Fernandez. He was the running mate of Sergio Massa in the 2023 Argentine general election, seeking the vice presidency as part of the Union for the Homeland coalition until Massa lost to Javier Milei in runoff.

Early life and education

Rossi was born in Vera, a small city in the north of Santa Fe Province, where he spent his early youth. He moved to Rosario when he was 17 years old, and graduated as a civil engineer at the National University of Rosario. ^[1]

Political career

Provincial career

Rossi was a member of the Peronist University Youth in the 1970s, and joined the Justicialist Party in the 1980s. He was elected to the Rosario Deliberative Council in 1987, but returned to his private practice in the 1991. He returned to politics in 2001, was elected to the Deliberative Council in 2002, and presided said body from 2004 to 2005.

In the 2005 legislative elections he ran for a seat in the Lower House of Congress for the Front for Victory, the largest faction of the Justicialist Party, formed by supporters of President Néstor Kirchner. His campaign capitalized on, and was centered on gaining support for, the successful policies implemented by Kirchner on the national level; Rossi, who was not yet well known in the province, presented himself as "Kirchner's candidate."^[2] The Front for Victory party list headed by Rossi came in second (with 33% of votes) after the Socialist Party list headed by Hermes Binner (43%).^[3]

Congressional terms and Ministry of Defense

He then became the head of the Front for Victory bloc in the lower house of Congress.^[4] In that capacity, he took on the task of imposing party discipline while rallying legislative support of Kirchner's policies; he stated that "the bloc [belonging to the ruling party] has the fundamental role of being the legislative arm of the government. I cannot conceive a [government party] block that has doubts or criticism for the government's projects. Society tells us: 'I choose you to strengthen the course of action initiated by the President."^[5] He also courted controversy with his rhetoric, notably in August 2010 when he described lawmakers who presented a bill that sought reverse a government decision to revoke an expired license for the Fibertel internet service provider, as "lawyers" for the Clarín Group (Fibertel's parent company); there have been ongoing controversies between Clarín and Kirchnerism since 2008 over a number of issues.^[6]

Rossi was a candidate in the FpV primary for the governorship of Santa Fe in the 2007 elections. His rival within the party was Rosario-born National Deputy and former Foreign Relations Minister Rafael Bielsa. The Mayor of Rafaela, Omar Perotti, campaigned for some time as well, but finally gave up and turned to support Bielsa. In the classical caudillist fashion that has prevailed in Argentina’s last century of politics, although some in the party, including Bielsa, would have rather negotiated on a consensus candidacy, Rossi insisted on conducting a primary election. Rossi also stated that he wanted Bielsa's sister María Eugenia (then vice-governor of Santa Fe), on his party list, though he instead chose Jorge Fernández, former Minister of Education during the governorship of Víctor Reviglio.^[7]^[8]^[9] Bielsa was eventually chosen as the party's candidate in primary elections on July 1, 2007, but subsequently lost the election to Socialist Hermes Binner.

Rossi continued in his role as Majority Leader of the Chamber of Deputies as head of the Front for Victory bloc, which retained a majority in the Chamber. President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner nominated him to the post of Minister of Defense of Argentina on 30 May 2013.^[10]

Electoral history

Executive

Electoral history of Agustín Rossi
Election	Office	List		Votes			Result	Ref.
Election	Office	List		Total	%	P.	Result	Ref.
2007 (P)	Governor of Santa Fe		Plural Concertation	228,501	34.96%^[a]	2nd^[b]	Not elected	^[11]
2011	Governor of Santa Fe		Santa Fe for All	388,231	22.76%	3rd	Not elected	^[12]
2023 1-R	Vice President of Argentina		Union for the Homeland	9,853,492	36.78%	1st	→ Round 2
2023 2-R	Vice President of Argentina		Union for the Homeland	11,384,014	44.25%	2nd	Not elected

^ Percentage out of the votes received by the party or front within which the primary was contested.
^ Out of the lists contesting the primary.

Legislative

Electoral history of Agustín Rossi
Election	Office	List		#	District	Votes			Result	Ref.
Election	Office	List		#	District	Total	%	P.	Result	Ref.
2005	National Deputy		Front for Victory	1	Santa Fe Province	489,584	33.28%	2nd^[a]	Elected	^[13]
2009	National Deputy		Front for Victory	1	Santa Fe Province	162,615	9.63%	3rd^[a]	Elected	^[14]
2015	Mercosur MP		Front for Victory	3	National list	8,922,609	37.46%	1st^[a]	Elected	^[15]
2017	National Deputy		Justicialist Front	1	Santa Fe Province	509,190	25.90%	2nd^[a]	Elected	^[16]

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Presented on an electoral list. The data shown represents the share of the vote the entire party/alliance received in that constituency.

References

^ Desarrollo y Región. Profile of National Deputy candidates Archived September 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
^ Clarín, 19 September 2005. Santa Fe: esa pulseada clave que concentra la atención de Kirchner Archived 26 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
^ Atlas Electoral de Andy Tow. 2005 legislative elections, National Deputies, Santa Fe Province Archived 2007-10-11 at the Wayback Machine.
^ Argentine Chamber of Deputies. Data on Agustín Rossi.
^ La Nación, 29 January 2006. Agustín Rossi: "El oficialismo no puede ser crítico" Archived 31 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
^ "Rossi criticó duramente a la oposición por su intención de revocar la licencia de Fibertel". Terra Noticias. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
^ RosarioNet, 3 August 2006. Rossi y Bielsa podrían ir a internas en Santa Fe Archived August 15, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
^ Rosario/12, 10 October 2006. "Yo voy a presentar lista" Archived 12 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
^ Rosario3, 3 April 2007. Listos y preparados, los precandidatos ya están en carrera Archived September 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
^ "CFK shuffles Cabinet, taps Rossi for Defence, Puricelli for Security". Buenos Aires Herald. 30 May 2013. Archived from the original on 9 June 2013. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
^ "Elecciones 2007". santafe.gov.ar (in Spanish). Tribunal Electoral de la Provincia de Santa Fe. Archived from the original on 9 February 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
^ "Elecciones 2011". santafe.gov.ar (in Spanish). Tribunal Electoral de la Provincia de Santa Fe. Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
^ "Elecciones 2005". argentina.gob.ar (in Spanish). Dirección Nacional Electoral. 8 February 2019. Archived from the original on 4 February 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
^ "Elecciones 2009". argentina.gob.ar (in Spanish). Dirección Nacional Electoral. 30 August 2017. Archived from the original on 9 February 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
^ "Elecciones 2015". argentina.gob.ar (in Spanish). Dirección Nacional Electoral. 28 August 2017. Archived from the original on 4 February 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
^ "Elecciones 2017". argentina.gob.ar (in Spanish). Dirección Nacional Electoral. 27 September 2017. Archived from the original on 4 February 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.