São Paulo governor João Doria confirms he will run for president of Brazil in 2022

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – São Paulo state governor Joao Doria confirmed Tuesday his intention to run for Brazil’s Social Democracy Party (PSDB) in presidential elections set for October 2022.

Doria, until the political rehabilitation of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was considered the main opposition candidate to oust President Jair Bolsonaro from the Alvorada Palace, said he would compete in the party’s primaries to emerge victoriously.

“We will contest the primaries and respect all candidates, but we will work to win and join forces with everyone to strengthen the PSDB candidacy and help Brazil,” Doria told Folha de São Paulo.

Doria, who represents a more moderate right than the still party-less Bolsonaro, could face Ceará Senator Tasso Jereissati, Rio Grande do Sul state Governor Eduardo Leite and former Manaus Mayor Arthur Virgílio in the November 21 primaries.

While waiting for one of these possible candidacies to fail, or even for others to join, polls within the ranks of Doria’s team show that the current governor of São Paulo would receive support within the party of between 35% and 40%, not enough to avoid a second round, which is set at 51% of the vote.

Until the return of ex-President Lula, who has not yet made his candidacy official, Doria had shown himself to be the option most capable of toppling Bolsonaro, especially last year, when their major differences over the management of the pandemic became apparent.

But in 2018, his campaign alliance with Bolsonaro helped him win the governorship of São Paulo state after two years as the city’s mayor.

That alliance was short-lived and Doria soon became one of Bolsonaro’s biggest political rivals, with personal attacks and constant disputes, the latest and fiercest following the purchase of the coronavirus vaccine from China’s Sinovac lab, with which the president went so far as to say it would never be supplied to the country.