São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro: under new management

Jair Bolsonaro’s election as President of Brazil, back in October, was not an isolated event. Besides his victory in the main race, his Social Liberal Party (PSL) reached unseen levels of representation in Congress; military candidates were victorious all over the country, and gubernatorial aspirants who sought to attach their name to the image of Mr. Bolsonaro were elected in crucial states.

The most prominent examples of this last phenomenon came in Brazil’s two most populous states: João Doria winning in São Paulo, and the previously unknown Wilson Witzel rising to power in Rio de Janeiro.

While his Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) spent millions on campaign adverts attacking Jair Bolsonaro, João Doria lobbied in his favor. Jumping on the bandwagon of the frontrunner in the national election, Mr. Doria successfully implored his electorate to vote “Bolsodoria”: João Doria for governor of São Paulo, and Jair Bolsonaro for president.

A former mayor of the city of São Paulo, Mr. Doria narrowly won the governor’s race and spent a significant amount of time in his inauguration speech criticizing his own party (which has controlled the São Paulo state government for 24 years) and making veiled attacks to his former mentor-turned-enemy, Geraldo Alckmin.

The beef between the two goes back to last year’s pre-campaign. While Geraldo Alckmin was understood as being PSDB’s natural choice...