(-RJ) went to the March for Jesus and, at least there, passed the test. It didn’t reach a 10 rating, but, in a ricochet of its paternal popularity, it had a good moment with the public.
He went up to Bordoada, the name of the electric trio in which authorities met with the host, the apostle Estevam Hernandes, and evoked a “spiritual war”. He did not specify against whom. It didn’t even need to.
He spoke about politics in obvious lines. “Let’s pray for our Brazil. This war is spiritual. It’s the greatest response we can give to the evil that will be expelled from the government this year”, he spoke into the microphone.
Minutes later, he ventured among the faithful onto the asphalt. It was a lot of pushing and shoving, a lot of harassment. He took dozens of selfies and heard requests like “let me be Bolsonaro’s grandson” and “send a kiss to your father”.
In the afternoon, on the stage where gospel shows were taking place, there was more applause for the senator. This time, he sang “O Hino da Vitória”, a praise known in Cassiane’s voice, evoked his father and waved to Israel, a cause dear to evangelicals. “I ask everyone to pray for Jair Messias Bolsonaro. Pray for Brazil, which will once again become a sister nation of Israel. Brazil above all, God above all.”
Passing the test, however, is not passing the year.
Flávio is well ahead of Lula in polls of voting intentions among evangelical voters. So far no surprise, given the president’s high rejection in churches. The report, carried out after the revelation of his conversations with the former banker, showed, however, that he fell from 49% to 42% in this religious segment.
Behind the scenes, leaders say that Flávio excites these voters less than his father. He does not have Jair’s charisma and is a figure associated with corruption scandals — from the past split to the current mess with Vorcaro.
This week, Apostle Hernandes, organizer of the March, reinforced that the ideal candidate would be Tarcísio-Michelle and added that Ronaldo Caiado is an excellent candidate.
“If you’re not a believer, don’t even try.” Variations of this phrase are repeated by many pastors who, in an election year, already know what’s coming: a pilgrimage of candidates pretending to have an in-depth knowledge of the Bible and evangelical symbols.
The problem is when these politicians don’t really know what they’re talking about, and then it just looks like a marketing ploy to fish for evangelical votes.
It happened, for example, with Ricardo Nunes (MDB), framed by competitor Pablo Marçal in the 2024 municipal election. The influencer suggested that the mayor, a Catholic, forced intimacy with his evangelical brothers. “The Bible has more than 30,000 verses. He can’t even quote two, but he understood what the marketer wrote. He got a kick out of it.”
The toucan José Serra also had trouble when he competed against Dilma Rousseff (PT) in the 2010 election. He took great care in building a religious persona and even distributed little cards that read “Jesus is truth and justice”. Then his wife’s abortion came to light, which demoralized him among conservatives.
(PL), in the assessment of these evangelical leaders, managed not to fall into this trap. Catholic, he had the “true believer” Michelle Bolsonaro by his side. He was not one to go to services outside the zone of electoral interest, nor did he declare to be evangelical, despite having allowed himself to be baptized in the Jordan River in 2016, at the hands of Pastor Everaldo, president of his party at the time, the PSC (later incorporated into Podemos). His approach seemed more genuine, without pushing what it isn’t.
What about your son 01? Leader of the PL in the Chamber and former president of the evangelical bench, Sóstenes Cavalcante says that Flávio was in fact not a faithful practitioner. He grew up under the influence of his evangelical mother without, as an adult, adopting a religious routine for himself.
“He says he converted for real in 2022. That’s enough for the evangelical,” says Sóstenes. The process was led “by a humble pastor from Brasília”, and today the senator is close to the Community of Nations, to Bishop JB Carvalho, a supporter of Jair.
What pastors argue is that no one needs to position themselves as a believer to have support with believers. The governor of , (Republicans), helps to illuminate the phenomenon.
Although he is not evangelical, he has an evangelical missionary mother and a familiarity with this universe that comes across naturally. He sings praises with enthusiasm, uses biblical references well and adopts a commendable pastoral tone in his speeches.
Its relationship with religion is usually perceived as spontaneous, not as an electoral resource activated at strategic moments.
Flávio reaches the same audience through a different path: that of recent conversion and explicit connection to his father’s political legacy.
He is not seen as having a deep knowledge of the word and, according to leaders who know him, he needs to be careful not to emulate a Pharisee effect. In one of the biblical passages against this group, Jesus says that “on the outside they appear righteous to the people, but inside they are full of hypocrisy and evil”.
