Michelle Bolsonaro nominated for Brazil Senate race

Brazil's right-wing Liberal Party nominated former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro as a Senate candidate on Sunday, adding another Bolsonaro family figure to October's election campaign.

The nomination came despite a recent public feud between Michelle Bolsonaro and her stepson Flavio Bolsonaro, a senator and the party's presidential nominee. Former president Jair Bolsonaro is under house arrest for plotting a coup at the end of his 2019-2022 term, and Michelle and Flavio Bolsonaro have been competing for influence in Brazil's conservative movement.

The dispute became public in late June when Michelle Bolsonaro accused Flavio Bolsonaro of disrespecting her and claimed he had said she "didn't understand anything about politics." Flavio Bolsonaro later issued a public apology before his formal nomination as the Liberal Party's presidential candidate, and Michelle Bolsonaro accepted it.

A Liberal Party event in Brasilia on Sunday had been expected to show the two together, but Michelle Bolsonaro did not attend. The medical center where she was treated said she had been hospitalized the previous day with a severe headache and was discharged as the event got underway.

Her brother Diego Torres read the speech she had planned to give. "I accept this challenge," he said on her behalf.

Flavio Bolsonaro said in his own speech that "we are going to rescue democracy, together with Michelle Bolsonaro." He is due to face leftist incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, 80, who is seeking a fourth nonconsecutive term.