RIO DE JANEIRO, July 26 — Flavio Bolsonaro inherited his father’s powerful surname and political base, but without the fiery style that helped Jair Bolsonaro energise and reshape Brazil’s right, he has struggled to emerge from his shadow.
The 45-year-old senator was little known nationally before his jailed father anointed him as his political heir, and had never expressed ambition to follow in his footsteps.
Buoyed by the Bolsonaro name, he has become the main challenger to leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in October’s election.
In interviews, Flavio describes himself as a “more moderate Bolsonaro,” but says his father will always be “my compass, my point of reference.”
While Jair Bolsonaro’s incendiary style is controversial, it fired up the right and propelled him from fringe lawmaker to president in 2018.
His supporters are willing to transfer their vote to Flavio, but he is still received by crowds chanting his father’s nickname: “Mito,” which means “Legend.”
“He is his father’s pick. That is why I am voting for him,” podiatrist Adriana Freire, 54, told AFP.
‘I re-educated him’
Born in Rio de Janeiro state, Flavio is the eldest of the former president’s four sons, and the one who most closely resembles his father.
On the campaign trail, he displays the relaxed Carioca style and language that the city of Rio is known for.
He often wears jeans and a t-shirt with a targeted slogan: “The Amazon is ours” to emphasise Brazilian sovereignty over the rainforest or “Agribusiness is great” when courting farmers.
In online videos, he does not shy away from tearing up or losing his cool when talking about the plight of his father or what he sees as persecution from the judiciary against his family.
Jair Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest for plotting a coup after narrowly losing Brazil’s last election in 2022.
Holding a law degree, Flavio Bolsonaro became a state lawmaker in Rio de Janeiro at age 21, and a senator at age 37.
Father to two daughters, he cultivates the image of a devout family man. A key campaign slogan is “come with faith.”
In one video showing a busy family morning at home, his dentist wife Fernanda takes credit for him being more mild-mannered than his father, joking: “I re-educated him.”
The banker and the stepmom
After an early surge in the polls showed him neck-and-neck with Lula, Flavio’s campaign has taken a hit from a series of scandals.
In May, an audio recording leaked of him asking banker Daniel Vorcaro — accused in a multi-million dollar fraud case — to finance a film about his father.
Flavio had denied any contact with Vorcaro and maintains it was purely a business relationship. When asked why he repeatedly called Vorcaro “my brother,” he said that was the Carioca way of speaking.
He also became embroiled in a family feud with his stepmom, the former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro, who posted an Instagram video saying Flavio had “disrespected me and mistreated me.”
Michelle this week accepted a public apology from Flavio, who has scrambled to court women voters, a demographic the right struggles with.
He insists that “defending women is a right-wing cause.”
In an earlier scandal when he was a Rio legislator, Flavio was accused of involvement in a kickback scheme in which he took a portion of his aides’ salaries, but the case was dismissed.
Tough on crime
A hardliner on crime, Flavio has praised the controversial security policies of El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, and called for the building of “many, many prisons” in Brazil.
On social media, he embraces slick AI-generated campaign ads in which he often appears in a flight suit and aviator glasses piloting a fighter jet on a mission for Brazil.
In one, he leans out of the window shooting at drug traffickers on a boat.
“Compared to his father, he is more affable and personable...but that doesn’t mean he isn’t ideologically far-right,” said political analyst Thomas Traumann.
For many Bolsonaro supporters in the highly polarised nation, Flavio’s personal profile does not matter much.
“I like (Flavio), but I would vote for him even if I didn’t,” said Hercilia Vieira, 53, selling cakes at a market in the Ipanema neighbourhood.
“I think he’s honest...and, above all, he’s right-wing,” she added. — AFP
