BRASÍLIA - Brazilian Senator of Rio de Janeiro and son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, proposed that he may make a run for president in next year's election after announcing on Friday that his father tapped him to represent the nation's conservative movement.
The elder Bolsonaro, a controversial figure in the nation's highly charged national politics, often equated with other right-leaning personalities of the region, and considered a friend and ally to U.S. President Donald Trump, was recently convicted of an attempted coup in the nation's capital following his 2022 election defeat.
The current president, Lula da Silva of the left-wing PT party, drew the ire of the U.S. president, who accused the Brazilian administration of targeted political persecution and the censorship of the conservative opposition.
The dispute between the two governments later translated into a tariff war, whereby the Trump administration slapped a 100% tariff on Brazilian goods, then ultimately removed those tariffs as tensions cooled following a brief meeting ASEAN Summit in Malaysia in October 2025.
Bolsonaro the elder was re-arrested last month in preemptive detention after it was discovered that Bolsonaro attempted to unlatch himself from a court-issued ankle monitor and was suspected of planning to flee the country.
Bolsonaro is currently serving a 27-year sentence at a federal police facility in the capital.
Flavio, 44, the eldest son of Jair, floated the possibility of his succession to his father's conservative movement after some influential circles within the movement supported the move.
However, after Brazilian markets jolted at the prospects of a Flavio run for president, the 44-year-old backtracked on his stance on Sunday, stating that he was willing to "negotiate" a possible withdrawal of his own candidacy.
"It is possible that I won’t go through with it until the end. I have a price for that. I’m going to negotiate," he told reporters outside an evangelical church in Brasília.
Insiders say that many of Brazil's conservative players preferred the idea of São Paulo Governor Tarcísio de Freitas, a former member of Jair Bolsonaro’s cabinet, as the movement's natural successor.
The complications remain within the inner workings of the conservative movement, as Jair Bolsonaro was recently polled by supporters as one of the central figures of Brazilian politics, supporters who still view the elder as the de facto leader of the conservative movement.
Bolsonaro, although behind bars, still retains tremendous influence as a political power-broker and national kingmaker.
Governor de Freitas will remain a safe option if Flavio decides to stay out of the race, but could face some resistance from Bolsonaro loyalists who are pushing for a Bolsonaro on the presidential ticket.
Flavio is expected to issue further statements on Monday to clarify his position after holding meetings with party members.
