Antônio Carlos Magalhães

Antônio Carlos Peixoto de Magalhães (4 September 1927 – 20 July 2007), commonly known as Antônio Carlos Magalhães or by his initials ACM, was a Brazilian physician, businessman, and politician, who served three times as both senator and governor of Bahia. He is best known for his influence as a national power broker, through his political machine that dominated his state's politics and national media.

Born in Salvador, Bahia to a political family, ACM studied medicine. While still a student, he worked as a reporter and began building ties to the media, alongside early roles in public administration. In the 1950s he joined the conservative National Democratic Union (UDN), won a seat as a state deputy, and later became a federal deputy in 1959.

ACM's rise accelerated under Brazil’s military regime. In 1967, after joining the pro-military National Renewal Alliance (ARENA), he was appointed mayor of Salvador, where his administration was associated with major urban works and an assertive approach to land occupations and redevelopment. ACM went on to serve two indirectly selected terms as governor of Bahia during the dictatorship era from 1971 to 1975 and 1979 to 1983, consolidating a dominant intra-government coalition in Bahia through governance marked by patronage, control of local alliances, and confrontation with segments of the independent press.

During the transition to democracy, ACM helped found the Liberal Front Party (PFL) and became a leading figure in the congressional bloc that supported President José Sarney. Serving as Minister of Communications from 1985 to 1990, he oversaw telecommunications and broadcast regulation during a period of rapid expansion in radio and television, and his tenure became closely associated with the discretionary distribution of broadcast concessions, praised as infrastructure expansion and criticized by as reinforcing clientelism and political-media entanglements. Returning to elective office in the 1990s, he again governed Bahia from 1991 to 1994 and then built national influence in the Senate, culminating in his election as President of the Federal Senate. In 2001 he resigned amid the electronic voting secrecy scandal, later returning to the Senate in 2003 until his death in 2007.