Bolsonaro campaign bets on Michelle in effort to soften women’s rejection
Michelle Bolsonaro: Former first lady had public disagreement with Flávio in first round, leading to a more subdued presence before first round
Brenno Carvalho/Agência O Globo
Former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro (Liberal Party, PL) is expected to play a more active role in the campaign of presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro (PL of Rio de Janeiro) than she did in the first round. Her main objective is to help reduce rejection of her stepson’s campaign among female voters.
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With less than two weeks of campaigning remaining, Michelle is expected to make targeted trips to state capitals and other locations with flight schedules that allow her to spend as little time as possible away from Brasília. Since her husband, Jair Bolsonaro, began serving his sentence at home for attempting a coup and other crimes, she has focused on caring for the former president, according to allies.
Publicly, allies say her absence from Flávio’s campaign during the first round was due to her focus on her own Senate race and on helping elect her ally, Federal Deputy Bia Kicis (PL of Federal District), to the second Senate seat. Both women were elected to the Senate representing the Federal District.
Behind the scenes, however, Michelle’s public falling-out with Flávio in June is said to have led her to take a lower profile in his presidential campaign. The two made tentative efforts to reconcile by filming campaign ads for the presidential race, but her involvement throughout the campaign was limited to social media posts.
People close to the former first lady also point out that a ruling by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes allowing her family members to care for Bolsonaro is not enough to let Michelle travel for more than a day, because those relatives are authorized to look after the former president for only a few hours at a time.
Now, in the final stretch of the campaign, the first places expected to host Michelle’s events are Amazonas and Tocantins, where she could help the gubernatorial campaigns of Maria do Carmo (PL) and Senator Dorinha Seabra (Brazil Union of Tocantins), respectively.
According to results compiled by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), Dorinha led the first round with 45.52% of valid votes, narrowly ahead of her opponent, Vicentinho Júnior (Brazilian Social Democracy Party, PSDB), who received 43.94%. In Amazonas, Maria do Carmo trailed Senator Omar Aziz (Social Democratic Party, PSD, Amazonas), receiving 24.49% of the vote to his 40.63%.
Michelle’s effort resembles the work she carried out as president of PL Mulher, the party’s women’s wing, which aimed to elect female candidates across the states. The former first lady left the position in July, when her dispute with her stepson became public.
Other states Jair Bolsonaro’s wife is expected to visit include São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The large number of direct flights from Brasília to both would allow her to make quick round trips. She is also expected to visit a capital in the Northeast, although the destination has yet to be decided.
Uncertainty
Allies stress, however, that the trips have not been scheduled and depend on arrangements that would let her travel to and from each location quickly so she can remain by the former president’s side. If they take place, the events are therefore expected to be concentrated in the final stretch of the runoff.
Senator Damares Alves (Republicans of Federal District), a former minister for women under Bolsonaro, is coordinating the events alongside Michelle. Last week, they met with PL national chairman Valdemar Costa Neto and other elected PL candidates to define strategies for mobilizing support for Flávio’s candidacy across the states.
“Michelle will visit some cities. It is already confirmed that she will go to Amazonas because the gubernatorial candidate there, Maria do Carmo, belongs to the PL. She will go to Tocantins because the candidate is a dear friend who is supported by the PL. She will attend events in São Paulo, and I think in Rio as well. We are hoping to include a capital in the Northeast,” Damares told Valor.
In addition to in-person visits, the former first lady is expected to take part in virtual meetings with voters in states she will not visit. The focus is on connecting with groups that already identify with Michelle, such as women and evangelical Christians.
“We will try to do as much as possible online: lots of livestreams, lots of online meetings. We will not be able to do what we did in the last election and travel all over Brazil. Michelle cannot travel that much. We also have a local obligation, which is to elect Celina [Leão],” Damares explained, referring to the Progressives Party (PP) governor of the Federal District, who is facing Leandro Grass (Workers’ Party, PT) in the runoff.
In the first round, Celina received 49.93% of valid votes, while Grass received 34.47%. The incumbent governor fell just 186 votes short of being reelected outright. In the first Quaest poll of the runoff, commissioned by TV Globo and the newspaper O Globo and released Monday (12), Celina had 53% of voting intentions, compared with 33% for Grass. Blank and invalid votes accounted for 8%, while 6% of respondents were undecided.
Quaest surveyed 1,104 people from Oct. 8 to 11. The margin of error is 3 percentage points, with a 95% confidence level. The poll registration number is DF-08737/2026.
