In the first month of pre-campaigning for the Presidency, he sought support from former ministers of Jair Bolsonaro (), PL leaders and right-wing politicians with experience in the financial market, in addition to .
After launching himself at Palácio do Planalto under criticism and distrust from parties in the center, Flávio has tried to establish his name and present himself, which includes repeating that he is dedicated to putting together the best team.
Allies believe that former president Jair Bolsonaro surrounded himself with inexperienced and, in many cases, unskilled assistants — a mistake that the senator would need to avoid. Therefore, Flávio is concerned about gathering names around him that could demonstrate credibility.
Flávio’s interlocutors claim that he intends to expand his travel schedule across the country from February onwards and focus his pre-campaign on Minas Gerais, in an attempt to reverse votes that in 2022 migrated to Lula (PT) in these states.
In this initial stretch, however, Flávio’s main effort has been to seek the endorsement of the financial market — which does not hide its preference for the governor of São Paulo, (Republicans).
The senator’s right-hand man in this field is Filipe Sabará, former municipal secretary of João Doria.
Sabará says he organized two events to bring Flávio closer to bankers and investors in the capital of São Paulo, the first with members of the Swiss bank UBS and the second with businesspeople in , nephew of Flávio Rocha, owner of Riachuelo.
“I’m close to the market. It was kind of natural, people started to ask me about Flávio, and I decided to build that bridge. I made myself available to the senator”, says the former secretary of Social Development, who caused controversy in 2017 when it came to school meals.
It was also Sabará —who in 2024 coordinated Marçal’s campaign for São Paulo City Hall— who articulated the influencer’s support for Flávio. After the conversation, Marçal made his digital communication arsenal available to the senator.
A friend of Flávio says, with reservations, that the senator knows that Avenida Faria Lima represents a tiny portion of the Brazilian electorate, incapable of electing anyone. Despite this, the assessment is that it sends a bad signal to the rest of the electorate.
Flávio has resorted to the advice of people who were part of the Bolsonaro government’s economic team. Enthusiasts of the candidacy say it is too early to prospect names of possible future ministers, but say that Flávio’s intention is to announce possible assistants before the election.
The senator has discussed proposals with the former Minister of Economy Paulo Guedes, with the former Minister of Mines and Energy Adolfo Sachsida and with the former president of BNDES (National Bank for Social Development) Gustavo Montezano.
To businesspeople, he presents himself as “moderate Bolsonaro” and claims to follow the “Paulo Guedes playbook”, with the promise of reducing taxes, controlling interest rates and streamlining the public sector.
In Sabará’s assessment, some names in the market already believe that the anti-Lula candidate will actually be Flávio and not Tarcísio.
“The rejection attributed to him is not his, it’s his father’s. The market is not afraid of him, because he has Paulo Guedes’ agenda. The only question they ask me is whether he will go all the way”, he says, who says he believes that Flávio is the only one with a chance of defeating Lula and that he sees in him the willingness to take the candidacy forward.
According to participants at the lunch at Kanner’s house, Flávio said he was the Bolsonaro they always wanted – respected in the Senate, willing to make political compositions and talk to everyone, even Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the STF (Supreme Federal Court). The senator would have heard tough questions, such as the family’s high rejection.
State deputy Lucas Bove (PL) made himself available to Flávio to work in his pre-campaign in São Paulo. In addition to contacts in commercial associations and banks, Bove also has a relationship with ruralists in the state.
“We will be together, we are working for him here. As soon as his candidacy was confirmed, he already unified the entire Bolsonaro base. We are very confident”, he states.
Without the same enthusiasm in the PP, União Brasil and the Republicans, Flávio has politically supported the president of the PL, Valdemar Costa Neto, and the party’s secretary general and leader of the opposition in the Senate, (RN), who was also a minister in the Bolsonaro government.
Willing to run for governor of Rio Grande do Norte next year, Marinho has been involved in Flávio’s pre-campaign and trying to articulate support for Bolsonaro’s eldest son with other parties.
HAS Sheet Flávio said he wants Marinho at his side next year. “He will be with me all the time, because he is a competent, trustworthy, intelligent person who loves challenges. I need people who don’t like to stay in their comfort zone. He is a friend and also believes in this project”, he states.
The pre-campaign, for now, does not have a designated marketer. PL name Duda Lima has already stated that he will not work on campaigns in 2026.
“My decision to no longer run electoral campaigns is public, but I have interacted with many competent electoral marketing professionals and I know that Flávio will make good choices in structuring a great marketing team”, he says.
In 2024, when he led the re-election campaign of Ricardo Nunes (MDB) to São Paulo City Hall, Duda had a series of conflicts with Bolsonaro’s children and other supporters of the former president, who sought to influence internal decisions while at the same time nodding towards rival Marçal.
