Can Brazil’s northeast call a halt to Jair Bolsonaro’s dangerous politics?

As was widely predicted, Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right candidate of the Social Liberal Party, won the first round of the Brazilian presidential election, with just over 46 percent of the vote. But because he didn’t win a clear majority, he must now face Fernando Haddad of the left-wing Workers’ Party (who won 29 percent of the vote) in a second round on October 28.

Despite being branded a racist, homophobic, and misogynist fascist by his opponents, Bolsonaro is now the favorite to become Brazil’s next president. But support for him is inconsistent throughout the country – with resistance concentrated in Brazil’s poor northeast. In fact, of the ten states that didn’t return a majority for Bolsonaro, nine are located there.

Certainly, Mr. Bolsonaro’s track record makes for some shocking reading. He reportedly said to a female congresswoman, publicly, that he would not sexually assault her because she was not worthy of him. He has also stated that it is better to have a dead son than a gay one and that gay people were not beaten enough as children.

In a country with a soaring murder rate and an alarming reputation...