Who Is Augusto Cury? Brazil’s Surprise 2026 Presidential Candidate

Brazil · Elections 2026 · Profiles

Until a few weeks ago, Augusto Cury was a publishing phenomenon, not a politician: a psychiatrist whose self-help books sold tens of millions of copies and were translated in more than 70 countries. Then the first televised debate of Brazil’s 2026 campaign happened — Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro stayed home, Cury showed up — and Google searches for his name jumped more than 1,000% in a night.

He is now third in the presidential race, and every point he holds reshapes who reaches the October 25 runoff. This is his profile. For the numbers, see our Brazil Election Poll Tracker; for the full field, the Elections 2026 Complete Guide.

Who Is Augusto Cury?

Augusto Jorge Cury was born on October 2, 1958, in Colina, a small town in the interior of São Paulo state, and graduated in medicine in 1984 from the regional medical school of São José do Rio Preto before specializing in psychiatry. He has said that a deep emotional crisis during his medical training pushed him toward writing about the inner workings of the mind.

That became a career unlike any other in Brazilian publishing. Cury developed what he calls the Theory of Multifocal Intelligence — a framework about how thoughts are constructed and emotions managed — and turned it into more than 70 books. O Vendedor de Sonhos (The Dream Seller, 2008) won a best-fiction award from the Chinese Academy of Letters and became a film in 2016. Brazilian outlets IstoÉ and Folha de S.Paulo have described him as the country’s most-read author of the past decade. He is married for 43 years and has three children.

His bibliography also includes the Análise da Inteligência de Cristo series, a psychiatric reading of the life of Jesus — the basis for his half-joking claim to be the only presidential candidate in the world who has scientifically studied the mind of Christ.

The Candidate: Avante, Number 70, No Coalition

Cury joined the small Avante party in 2026 and was formally nominated at its national convention on August 3 in São Paulo. It is his first election: he has never held public office, a fact he uses as a credential rather than a weakness. Avante runs alone, without a coalition — which costs him dearly in free television time, where the big parties command minutes and Avante commands seconds.

His running mate is Júlio Delgado, a former federal deputy from Minas Gerais. His government plan runs to roughly 200 pages and mixes his signature themes — education built on critical thinking, mental-health policy, “humanized management” — with conventional fare: fiscal balance, state reform, security, industrialization. His most unusual institutional proposal is a transition toward semi-presidentialism as a fix for Brazil’s chronic coalition gridlock. His campaign brand is “Brasil que Soma” — the Brazil that adds, not divides.

The Surge: From 1% to 11% in a Month

Cury’s first measured support was 2% in April. By late July, AtlasIntel still had him at 1.6%. Then came August.

At the first televised debate on August 23, Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro both declined to attend. Cury threatened to boycott in protest, then walked into the Band studios and debated Ronaldo Caiado and Renan Santos instead. He led Google searches during the broadcast; his Instagram following, about 8.3 million before the debate, passed 9 million within days.

The polls followed. AtlasIntel’s late-August round put him at 7.8%; BTG Pactual/Nexus and Real Time Big Data both measured 11% — a level no third-way candidate had reached in this campaign. The AtlasIntel breakdown shows him drawing voters from Flávio Bolsonaro, from Lula and from Minas Gerais governor Romeu Zema’s camps alike: classic anti-polarization math in a race where both front-runners carry rejection rates near 50%.

The Money

Cury declared R$242.28 million ($45 million) in assets to the Superior Electoral Court — business holdings, real estate and investments built on publishing royalties, education ventures and agriculture. He is, by a wide margin, the richest candidate in the race, and one of the few who entered politics after becoming wealthy rather than the other way around.

The Skeptics’ Case

Three questions hang over the candidacy. First, experience: running a federation of 27 states and a trillion-real budget has no training period, and Cury has never administered anything public. His answer is a “golden team” of ministers — the best governors, economists and managers, as he put it in the debate.

Second, the science: specialists have questioned the academic grounding of his Multifocal Intelligence theory, a scrutiny that will intensify now that he is a front-of-pack candidate.

Third, durability: Brazil has seen celebrity candidacies flare and fade once television advertising begins, and Cury’s seconds of airtime cannot compete with the front-runners’ minutes. His vote is soft — the same polls that show his surge show an electorate still shopping. Whether curiosity becomes trust by October 4 is the defining question of his campaign.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Augusto Cury?

A 67-year-old psychiatrist and Brazil’s bestselling self-help author, born in Colina, São Paulo. He is running for president in 2026 for the Avante party — his first election — and surged to third place in late-August polls with up to 11%.

What party is Augusto Cury?

Avante, ballot number 70, running without a coalition. His vice-presidential candidate is former federal deputy Júlio Delgado.

What are Augusto Cury’s main proposals?

Anti-polarization politics under the “Brasil que Soma” brand, an education overhaul centered on critical thinking and full-time schooling, mental-health policy, fiscal balance and a transition toward semi-presidentialism.

Can Augusto Cury actually win?

Not on current numbers — Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro lead every survey. But Cury’s 11% makes him the strongest third candidate of the campaign, and his voters decide who reaches — and wins — the October 25 runoff.

Connected Coverage

Follow his numbers weekly in the Brazil Election Poll Tracker, the full field in the Elections 2026 Complete Guide, and how his surge moved markets in our Cury surge analysis. Results on October 4: live results blog.