The historic defeat of PRO of Mauricio Macri in Buenos Aires City in the 2025 legislative elections provoked an internal storm with immediate consequences.
As soon as it was confirmed that Silvia Lospennato came in third with 15.9% of the votes, unable to win in any district and representing the worst result for PRO in the City since 2003, the atmosphere in the bunker changed abruptly. The first head to roll was that of the Catalan advisor Antoni Gutiérrez-Rubí, who is directly blamed for the failed electoral strategy.
"The Catalan no longer works for Jorge. He was fired," journalist Pablo Lapuente Escobar stated on his X account, reflecting the anger and disappointment that reigned during the night. Gutiérrez-Rubí's departure comes amid strong internal and external criticism of the campaign line adopted by PRO, which sought to split the election to try to escape the Milei effect on the electorate and bet on an "atomization" of the electoral scenario. The idea, promoted by the advisor, was to denationalize the contest so that PRO's fall wouldn't be as noticeable in a multiplicity of lists.
Sergio Massa y Antoni Gutiérrez-Rubí.
The result was the opposite: the Buenos Aires ruling party came in third behind Manuel Adorni, the presidential spokesperson for Javier Milei, who swept with a solid 30.13%, and the Kirchnerist Leandro Santoro, who achieved 27.35%.
The defeat caused a political earthquake in the yellow space, with blame-shifting, cross-accusations, and the urgent need to rethink the course. In this context, Gutiérrez-Rubí's figure became unsustainable for Jorge Macri, the current head of the Buenos Aires government.
The anger with Gutiérrez-Rubí
But the criticisms of Gutiérrez-Rubí don't come only from within PRO. The national government, led by Javier Milei, had already harshly questioned his presence in the country for months. The "Catalan" was one of the main advisors to Sergio Massa during the 2023 presidential campaign, even being pointed out as the intellectual author of a communication strategy that included negative campaigns and systematic attacks against Milei and his space.
Sergio Massa y Antoni Gutiérrez-Rubí.
From the libertarian ruling party, they accuse him of having attempted to tarnish the figure of the now president with a dirty campaign full of disinformation, fear, and apocalyptic messages.
In this context, Gutiérrez-Rubí's departure from Jorge Macri's team is seen by some as a tacit surrender to libertarian pressure and by others as an inevitable purge in the face of a historic defeat.
Meanwhile, La Libertad Avanza celebrates its great Buenos Aires triumph and Adorni consolidates himself as a political figure, PRO faces a deep crisis, without clear leadership or defined horizon. The departure of the leftist advisor doesn't solve the underlying problem, which is the apparent end of a political force that was once hegemonic in the City.
