Along with votes in nearly all of Brazil’s more than 5,500 municipalities, the 2024 mayoral election in the megacity of São Paulo will be — at least to some extent — another example of pitting the image of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva against that of his far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro.
The current president has already put his weight behind Congressman Guilherme Boulos, who earned his political chops leading housing rights social movements. It will be the first time ever that Lula and his Workers’ Party will back a candidate from outside the party for the São Paulo mayoral race.
Meanwhile, Mr. Bolsonaro’s allegiances are less clear-cut, apparently wavering between supporting Congressman Ricardo Salles, his former environment minister, or the current mayor, Ricardo Nunes.
But in the middle of these two poles is one of the best-known rising young stars in Brazilian politics, Congresswoman Tabata Amaral, who will run for the mayor’s job while representing the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB) — a political group that, despite the name, is more New Labour than Marxist-Leninist.
Ms. Amaral first appeared on the scene in 2017 when, at just 23 years old, she co-founded a “political renewal” organization by the name of Movimento Acredito, along with a number of other budding young politicians. One year later, she was elected to Congress representing the Democratic Labor Party, winning more than 264,000 votes in São Paulo — the sixth-highest in that election.
Re-elected four years on, she was again the sixth most-voted in the state — this time representing the PSB.
The Brazilian Report met with Ms. Amaral this week, in a modern office building in the wealthy neighborhood of Alto dos Pinheiros — where, much to her surprise, she was the best-voted congressional candidate in 2022. In an exclusive interview, we touched on this apparent contradiction, as despite her political focus and background coming in the city’s disadvantaged outskirts, her highest 2022 vote percentages came in some of São Paulo’s wealthiest neighborhoods.
We also discussed public security — which Ms. Amaral calls the most pressing problem facing the city today — education, and her relationship with Lula and São Paulo Governor Tarcísio de Freitas.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Something that has forged a great deal of your political identity and persona was your upbringing on the poor outskirts of São Paulo. If you could tell us a bit about that and how it informs your politics today.
“We are our history.” That’s a sentence that really defines me. My goal is to make sure that our history and where we come from do not dictate how far we can go in life, or how big we can dream. But, having said that, I’m proud of where I come from and I’m proud of my journey. I’m the daughter of two migrants from the Northeast who came to São Paulo along with millions of others, seeking opportunities. I was raised in an urban housing occupation in the south of São Paulo, where my family still lives today.
The difficulties and inequalities in that place dictated my life for many years, be that by the fear we felt whenever we had heavy rain, the desperation when my parents became unemployed, dealing with my father’s alcohol and drug addiction in a context where he was never treated as someone with a disease, all these things helped define — and still define — the way I see the world today.
But, at the same time, the opportunities given to me through education and the way education allowed me to dream also define the way I see life, and are part of the reason I’m here today. In my case, it was a public policy called the Brazilian Public School Math Olympics. My math teacher decided that our school should take part and started helping us practice for it.
[Editor’s note: Ms. Amaral then went on to win a series of international science olympiads, before obtaining a full scholarship to study at Harvard University, where she graduated in political science and astrophysics]
I’m here today because I know São Paulo’s two extremes very well. I know what it’s like to live in an urban housing occupation, I know what it’s like to be afraid of losing your home, of unemployment, of hunger.
But I also know all the good things São Paulo can offer, how incredible this city is and how, in so many ways, there’s no better place in the world. And I know how big people can dream here. My mother always says that she was only able to see her two children get into college because she came to São Paulo.
And one of the reasons I’m here — be that in my fight for education, or in my second term as a member of Congress, or above all as a pre-candidate for mayor — is because I know these two sides of São Paulo so well, and they form such an important part of my story. I want to build a bridge that connects these two sides, because once you experience the impact public schooling can have on real people’s lives, you can’t not fight for that.
Was the idea of running for mayor of São Paulo always in your plans? When did you decide to join the race?
I often say that a Mexican telenovela based on my life would be less dramatic than the real thing, in all sorts of ways. So no, I didn’t even plan to go into politics, I wanted to work in public education. When I decided to run for Congress for the first time [in 2018], my chances of getting elected were extremely slim.
To end up as one of the best-voted candidates in Brazil was a huge surprise for many people, and for me too. I’m accustomed to life taking you in unexpected directions. I don’t see politics as a staircase, or something set in stone. I think that what I’m doing right now, as a member of Congress, as head of the education caucus, and as a pre-candidate for mayor of São Paulo, is the best possible contribution I can make to my city and my country. As long as I feel that I’m still making the best possible contribution, that’s what I’ll keep striving to do.
There were a series of factors that made me start looking less at Congress and more towards municipal politics. I’m in my fifth year in Congress, and I’m so proud of everything we’ve done. But it pains...
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