Flavio Bolsonaro campaigns as his father’s chosen political heir

Flavio Bolsonaro has become the main challenger to leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brazil’s October election after his father, Jair Bolsonaro, named him as his political heir.

The 45-year-old senator was not widely known nationally before that endorsement and had not previously expressed an ambition to follow his father into the presidency. He describes himself in interviews as a more moderate Bolsonaro, while saying his father will remain his main point of reference.

Jair Bolsonaro’s political style helped mobilize Brazil’s right and carry him to the presidency in 2018. Flavio Bolsonaro benefits from that base, but campaign crowds still chant his father’s nickname, “Mito,” meaning “Legend.” One supporter, Adriana Freire, said she was voting for Flavio because he was his father’s choice.

Flavio Bolsonaro is the eldest of the former president’s four sons. Born in Rio de Janeiro state, he became a state lawmaker at age 21 and a senator at age 37. He has a law degree, has two daughters and presents himself as a religious family man. One campaign slogan is “come with faith.” His wife, Fernanda, appears in campaign material and jokes that she made him more mild-mannered than his father.

On the campaign trail, he often uses casual clothing and slogan shirts aimed at specific audiences, including messages about Brazilian sovereignty over the Amazon and support for agribusiness. Online, he has posted emotional videos about his father and about what he describes as judicial persecution of his family.

Jair Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest for plotting a coup after narrowly losing Brazil’s 2022 election.

Flavio Bolsonaro’s campaign rose early in polling but has been hurt by several scandals. In May, a leaked audio recording showed him asking banker Daniel Vorcaro, who is accused in a multi-million-dollar fraud case, to finance a film about Jair Bolsonaro. Flavio had denied contact with Vorcaro and now says the relationship was purely business. Asked why he repeatedly called Vorcaro “my brother,” he said that was a Rio way of speaking.

He also became involved in a public dispute with his stepmother, former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro, who posted a video saying he had disrespected and mistreated her. Michelle later accepted a public apology from him. Flavio has been trying to appeal to women voters and says defending women is a right-wing cause.

An earlier case accused him, while he was a Rio legislator, of involvement in a kickback scheme involving aides’ salaries. The case was dismissed.

On crime, Flavio Bolsonaro has praised the security policies of El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele and called for Brazil to build many prisons. His social media campaign has used AI-generated videos, including images of him as a fighter pilot and one showing him shooting at drug traffickers on a boat.

Political analyst Thomas Traumann said Flavio Bolsonaro is more affable and personable than his father, but that this does not mean he is not ideologically far-right. Some supporters say his personal profile matters less than his connection to Jair Bolsonaro and his right-wing politics.