Death of São Paulo mayor reshuffles politics in Brazil and biggest city

The political class in São Paulo, Brazil’s biggest city, is in mourning after the death of Mayor Bruno Covas on Sunday. Aged 41, he passed away after a two-year battle with gastrointestinal cancer. Re-elected in 2020, Mr. Covas had just started a new term — and his death left the southeastern megacity in the hands of the relatively unknown Ricardo Nunes, who will now have to assert himself on Brazil’s biggest municipal stage.

Right up until his death, Mr. Covas continued working as São Paulo’s mayor, only stepping down after his final hospitalization. On Friday, he wrote a letter to members of his Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), co-founded by his late grandfather Mário Covas. The letter epitomized Mr. Covas’ demeanor since taking office as mayor in 2018, when João Doria stepped down to run for governor of São Paulo.

A self-proclaimed “radical centrist,” Mr. Covas used his last political act to establish a difference between himself — and the PSDB — and President Jair Bolsonaro.

“In opposition to the federal government — which has disdained Brazilians’ lives and health throughout this pandemic, the São Paulo chapter of the PSDB and its allies...