Former President Jair Bolsonaro has endorsed his eldest son's campaign to be Brazil's next president in the 2026 race.
Published December 10, 2025
Far-right senator Flavio Bolsonaro reaffirmed his commitment to participating in Brazil's 2026 presidential race, despite criticism that he appeared to be openly haggling over whether to remain a candidate.
On Tuesday, Bolsonaro met with journalists outside the federal police headquarters in the capital, Brasilia, where his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, is serving a 27-year sentence for attempting to foment a coup.
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The younger Bolsonaro said he had conveyed to his father that he would not back down from the 2026 race.
“I told him that this candidacy is irreversible,” Flavio said. “And in their own words: ‘We will not back down.’ Now is the time to talk to people, so we can have the right people on our side.”
The senator also tried to clarify the comments that sparked the initial controversy.
On Sunday, Flavio raised eyebrows when he told Brazilian media that he could drop out of the race for the right “price.”
“There is a possibility that it will not go to the end,” Flavio said at the time. “I have a price for that. I'll negotiate.”
He declined to say what that price would be, but his comments were widely interpreted as a reference to his father's imprisonment.
In September, a panel of Brazil's Supreme Court convicted Jair on five charges related to his attempts to overturn the 2022 presidential election, including one charge of seeking the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law.
Jair lost the 2022 race to the current Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a leftist leader who announced he will run for a fourth term in 2026.
In November, the Supreme Court panel ordered Jair detained to begin his sentence after the former president admitted damaging his ankle monitor.
Furthermore, in 2023, Brazil's Supreme Electoral Court ruled that Jair should be banned from holding public office for eight years, as a penalty for misusing the presidential office to spread electoral falsehoods.
Since his arrest, Jair has endorsed his eldest son's candidacy in the 2026 elections. Liberal Party (PL) president Valdemar Costa Neto also confirmed on Friday that Jair's endorsement meant Flavio would lead the party's candidacy.
Flavio has since received other right-wing endorsements, including from Sao Paulo Governor Tarcisio de Freitas, who was previously considered one of the favorites to represent the PL.
But Flavio's comments on Sunday have cast doubt on his nascent candidacy.
Critics, including those from Lula's Workers' Party, have seized on Flavio's suggestion of a “price” to question his ethics and commitment.
“No one launches a candidacy one day and the next day says, 'Look, I can negotiate,'” Edinho Silva, president of the Workers' Party, told reporters. “It's not just me. No one would take it seriously.”
But on Tuesday Flavio dismissed the attacks and reaffirmed that he would remain in the race, while fighting for his father's freedom.
“My price is that Bolsonaro is free and on the ballot,” he said. “In other words, there is no price.”
