Brazil’s right-wing opposition has entered a new phase of public infighting, with multiple heirs apparent vying for the electoral blessing of Jair Bolsonaro. The former president has been sentenced to more than 27 years in prison for plotting a coup to overturn his 2022 electoral defeat, but he remains the gravitational center of conservative politics.
This week, a Bolsonaro-aligned media outlet reported that the former leader had agreed to anoint São Paulo Governor Tarcísio de Freitas as the new standard bearer of his movement. Freitas, who Bolsonaro brought into politics, has tried to cut a “moderate Bolsonarista” image — a tough balancing act, considering that Bolsonarista messaging is inherently anti-democratic.
But within hours, Bolsonaro’s longtime aide and former press secretary Fabio Wajngarten dismissed the Metrópoles story as “obviously false.” Wajngarten, however, added that Bolsonaro and Freitas will be “together in 2026.”
Bolsonaro’s own family is signaling rival ambitions. Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, Jair’s third-eldest son, has declared that he will run for president in the event of his father's absence.
Eduardo says he plans to run even without his father’s blessing — and claims to be considering the possibility of leaving the behemoth far-right Liberal Party to join a smaller party willing to put him on the presidential ticket.
Michelle Bolsonaro, the former first lady, has also entered the fray. In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, she said, “I will rise like a lioness to defend our conservative values, truth and justice. If, to fulfill God’s will, it becomes necessary that I assume the political candidacy, I will be ready to do whatever He asks of me.”
Like Freitas, who is expected to cruise to re-election in São Paulo, a presidential bid would mean Michelle trading a sure electoral win for a gamble. The former first lady is considered a head-and-shoulders favorite for a Senate seat representing Brasília.
👉 Why it matters. This dispute over who will become Bolsonaro’s heir underscores the contradictions in the former president’s politics: loyalty is demanded (and the tests become increasingly rigorous), yet clarity is rare. Adding to the uncertainty is Bolsonaro’s long history of abandoning allies according to his own convenience.
It’s like Schrödinger’s support: simultaneously present and absent until it is put to the test.
Making matters more complicated for the Bolsonaros is the fact that the former president is under house arrest and cannot use social media, which makes it all the more difficult for him to coordinate with his support base.
One name is sitting back and biding his time: Paraná Governor Ratinho Junior. Unlike Freitas, he does not owe his political career to Jair Bolsonaro. Ratinho Junior is the son of a flamboyant TV host whose Jerry Springer-like talk shows and media empire — comprising more than 70 radio and television stations — give the family an enviable reach among low-income families.
Ratinho belongs to the Social Democratic Party (PSD), a quintessential example of a party guided by interests rather than ideas, once described by its own chairman as being “neither to the left, nor the right, nor the center.” PSD leaders have begun to leak to the press that Ratinho’s candidacy is “gaining momentum” behind the scenes, a classic strategy to manufacture momentum.
The Paraná governor has kept a significantly lower profile than his conservative peers, many of whom have competed to demonstrate their fealty to Bolsonaro. He has supported a “political solution” to the amnesty debate and framed the former president’s conviction as political persecution.
But he has stopped short of the overt attacks on the judiciary voiced by Tarcísio de Freitas during Independence Day rallies on September 7. If anything, it is Ratinho who is carving out the “moderate Bolsonarista” image for himself — an oxymoronic term that, in his case, may owe less to principle than to silence.
