🗳️ Off to the races

Campaigning became lawful in Brazil on Sunday, August 16, and the shift is more than ceremonial. Candidates may now ask for votes explicitly, hold rallies and motorcades, hand out printed material, and pay to boost their own posts — though not to amplify attacks on rivals. The free radio and television blocks, still the broadest stage, open on August 28. The first round is October 4; the runoff, October 25.

Both front-runners went home for day one. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva filled a stadium in São Bernardo do Campo, the industrial suburb where he led the metalworkers' strikes of 1979 and 1980. Senator Flávio Bolsonaro parked a sound truck on Copacabana beach, his family's traditional parade ground. The University of São Paulo's Political Debate Monitor counted 8,900 people there at the peak. It could not count how many people attended Lula's event: his organizers barred drones…

Don’t miss out! Upgrade to unlock full access. The process takes only seconds with Apple Pay or Stripe. Become a member.

We’re here for readers who want to truly understand Brazil and Latin America — a region too often ignored or misrepresented by the international media.

Since 2017, our reporting has been powered by paid subscribers. They’re the reason we can keep a full-time team of journalists across Brazil and Argentina, delivering sharp, independent coverage every day.

If you value our work, subscribing is the best way to keep it going — and growing.