 He founded a new party, "Partido del Progreso Social" (Party for Social Progress), returned to the Rosario City Council in 1997, and was elected in 1999 to the Argentine Chamber of Deputies for Santa Fe.Opting not to seek a second term in Congress, Cavallero again ran for governor in 2003, and again lost to Jorge Obeid.He competed in the Justicialist-led Front for Victory (FpV) primaries in 2007 for mayor of Rosario with the support of FpV gubernatorial candidate Rafael Bielsa and against Juan Héctor Sylvestre Begnis.