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Trump's 'Election Denial Must Stop': Progressive Lawmakers Demand US Recognize Lula's Brazil Victory
"In the two largest democracies in the hemisphere, we cannot tolerate authoritarian efforts to deny election results, overturn the will of hundreds of millions of voters, or violently interrupt the peaceful transfer of power."
Oct 30, 2026
Progressive leaders in the US House of Representatives on Friday demanded that President Donald Trump recognize Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's reelection victory, accusing the Republican of joining defeated far-right candidate Flávio Bolsonaro's bid to undermine democracy in Latin America's largest country.
“Trump continues to ramp up his election denialism," Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Casar (D-Texas), CPC Deputy Chair Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), and CPC Whip Jesús G. "Chuy" García (D-Ill.) said in a statement, adding that Lula won by "more than 4 million votes. Yet Trump called it 'rigged’ and ‘corrupt’ and refused to recognize the outcome."
Turning to loser Bolsonaro's flight from Brazil to the United States, where senior Trump officials said he and his family would be granted visas, the progressives continued, "As soon as Flávio Bolsonaro touched down in Florida, he thanked Donald Trump for his support and claimed that Brazil’s election was stolen, outrageously declaring himself the rightful ‘president-elect.’"
"Trump’s and Bolsonaro’s partnership in election denial must stop immediately," they stressed. "We demand that the United States join the rest of the world in accepting the results of Brazil’s election. In the two largest democracies in the hemisphere, we cannot tolerate authoritarian efforts to deny election results, overturn the will of hundreds of millions of voters, or violently interrupt the peaceful transfer of power."
“As November approaches, we are committed to using every congressional tool at our disposal to defend election integrity at home and stop Trump’s election interference and denialism abroad," the lawmakers added, alluding to next week's US midterm elections.
The Trump administration's response to the results of the Brazilian runoff has angered many in Brazil, especially those on the left.
According to Folha de São Paulo, the US State Department had prepared a customary statement congratulating Brazil on its election but was ordered to withhold its release after Bolsonaro challenged the results. The US Embassy in Brasília subsequently offered no indication of when the statement would be issued.
Lula's leftist Workers' Party addressed Trump's behavior in a resolution saying that "Brazil will not accept foreign interests interfering in its democracy, nor will it accept political disputes serving as a pretext to disrespect the sovereign will of the Brazilian people, in elections that were widely monitored and recognized for their integrity."
"The position of US President Donald Trump regarding the election results and [Bolsonaro's] presence on US territory also requires attention," the resolution added.
Dan Beeton, communications director at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, told Common Dreams on Friday that "the CPC leaders are right."
"Trump should join the rest of the world and recognize Lula’s historic electoral victory and, hopefully, turn a new page in US-Brazil relations, which have deteriorated significantly during Trump’s second term, with Trump’s unprovoked and unnecessary tariffs, sanctions against officials responsible for holding former President Jair Bolsonaro accountable for his 2023 coup attempt, and other hostile actions," Beeton added. "Trump will risk further isolating the US on the world stage as long as he doesn’t.”
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‘Rats Run Away’: Facing Criminal Probe, Flávio Bolsonaro Flees Brazil to US After Loss to Lula
"This reveals the DNA of Bolsonarism," said one critic. "Bolsonarism is made of cowardice."
Oct 27, 2026
Just one day after vowing he would remain in Brazil to disprove allegations of money laundering, corruption, and other crimes, far-right Brazilian Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro followed in his disgraced father's footsteps by fleeing to the United States after losing a presidential election.
Bolsonaro, his wife Fernanda Bolsonaro, and their two daughters, ages 14 and 12, left Brazil for an unknown location in the United States, according to initial reporting by Isadora Teixeira at the Brasília-based news site Metrópoles, which was subsequently confirmed by other Brazilian and international media.
The Argentinian site Infobae reported that Bolsonaro and his family may have crossed into Argentina—which is run by his ally, far-right President Javier Milei—and then traveled to the US in a private jet. It is not known where the family went in the US.
Bolsonaro's brother, Eduardo Bolsonaro, lives in Texas while facing criminal punishment in Brazil after trying to use the Trump administration to pressure Brazilian authorities over the prosecution of his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, who last year was convicted of conspiring to violently remain in power following leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's 2022 election win.
Flávio Bolsonaro, a 45-year-old senator representing Rio de Janeiro, was defeated by Lula in Sunday's second-round election, but refused to accept the results and groundlessly demanded an annulment. The following day, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the seizure of Bolsonaro's passport. He was supposed to have turned in the document Tuesday, but he didn't.
US President Donald Trump also cast doubt on the election's outcome, saying the contest appeared to be "rigged."
Jair Bolsonaro also fled to the United States while refusing to acknowledge his own 2022 defeat, which occurred during the administration of former President Joe Biden.
Like Trump, Bolsonaro incited a violent insurrection in his nation's capital following his loss.
Unlike Trump, Bolsonaro was held accountable for his crimes, and, in addition to a 27-year prison sentence—now being served under house arrest—is banned from running for any political office for the rest of the decade.
Now, with Trump back in the White House and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in charge at Foggy Bottom, Bolsonaro and his relatives are set to be issued US visas, a senior State Department official told The Associated Press.
The younger Bolsonaro's flight—which may have been aided by his obtaining an Italian passport in 2023—contradicts his pledge on Monday, when he said, "I have never thought about leaving the country" and "I will hand over my passports and defend myself against this travesty."
He was referring to de Morães' order to surrender his passport amid accusations of corruption, money laundering, tax evasion, and foreign currency violations.
Bolsonaro is also the subject of an inquiry pertaining to the millions of dollars he raised from a disgraced banker implicated in a massive corrupt plot to finance a biopic of Jair Bolsonaro.
The senator has not been charged and denies any wrongdoing.
Bolsonaro's flight stands in stark contrast to Lula, who spent 580 days in prison after being convicted in corruption cases stemming from the sprawling Operation Car Wash investigation.
In 2021, Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court annulled Lula’s convictions on procedural grounds, ruling that the court in Curitiba lacked jurisdiction over the cases and separately finding that former judge Sergio Moro had acted with bias in one of them. The decisions restored Lula’s political rights and eligibility to run for office, paving the way for his 2022 presidential victory over Bolsonaro.
Lula responded to the senator's departure by saying, "Unfortunately, the Bolsonaro family is like that."
"Brazil is his second homeland," the president continued, accusing Bolsonaro of "bootlicking in the United States."
Secretary-General of the Brazilian Presidency Guilherme Castro Boulos ripped Bolsonaro, saying: "Leaders face things head-on! Rats run away!”
"It is a shameful thing, which should make Brazilian society as a whole reflect, especially those who supported and voted for Flávio Bolsonaro," Boulos asserted. "He slapped his supporters in the face and left them on the side of the road."
"Almost 60 million Brazilians trusted him as political leadership to run the country, and 24 hours later, he flees," he continued. "And it's no use coming up with this talk of persecution, of dictatorship. He ran away because he must."
"This reveals the DNA of Bolsonarism," Boulos added. "Bolsonarism is made of cowardice."
Erika Hilton, a member of the Chamber of Deputies—the lower house of Brazil's Legislature—representing São Paulo for the Socialism and Liberty Party, weighed in on social media, calling Bolsonaro "a traitor to the homeland."
In the United States, Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) said on X that "losing an election is not grounds for asylum."
"Yet the Trump administration is giving Flávio Bolsonaro safe haven in the United States," he continued. "The Trump administration owes Congress answers on its role helping Bolsonaro flee Brazil in contravention of Brazilian law."
Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic Policy and Research (CEPR), told Common Dreams:
Trump is now the most corrupt president in US history, raking in billions from his presidency. It's no surprise when the most powerful corrupt authoritarian government in the hemisphere uses international law designed to protect the persecuted to shield another corrupt authoritarian government from criminal prosecution. Perhaps this is what is meant by the Trump-led 'Shield of the Americas.'
Francesca Emanuele, senior international policy associate at CEPR, noted that "the United States has long served as a destination for numerous right-wing Latin American political figures who fled their home countries while facing corruption allegations, criminal investigations, or accusations of grave human rights violations, including crimes against humanity."
"The list is extensive," she added, "ranging from former presidents such as Panama’s Ricardo Martinelli and Bolivia’s Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada to dictators such as Nicaragua’s Anastasio Somoza."
Emanuele also contrasted the actions of the Bolsonaros and Lula, arguing that the latter's decision to remain in Brazil "reflected a commitment to the Brazilian people and a determination to defend his rights through the country’s own institutions, even when those institutions failed to uphold them."
"Rather than leaving Brazil," she told Common Dreams, "Lula stayed, fought to clear his name, and continued his political struggle alongside the people he sought to represent."
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Lula's Victory Offers Hope for Democracy and the Amazon
The win in Brazil, the win in Serbia, the probable win in Israel against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s disastrous far-right coalition, and the upcoming midterms in the US, show that the power belongs to the people.
Oct 27, 2026
When Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva lost the first round of the Brazilian election and fell behind in the polls, I thought he would lose the election. So, the fact that he won is a stunning comeback. It took the three weeks between the two elections, hundreds of hours of street and online mobilization by Lula’s Army of Supporters, to defeat the conservative candidate, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro. Another member of the Bolsonaro family, of course!
Lula’s winning magic was helped by a video. It’s a clip between the two men from their debate that rightfully deserves to be immortalized. In it, Bolsonaro asks him: “Why are 73% of the prisoners voting for you?” And the wise Lula answers: “I want 100% of the prisoners’ votes. Including your dad’s vote!” The people in the studio laughed. This exchange made Brazilian society laugh too, wake up, and think, after seeing a dynamic performance by Lula on live TV. It was the opposite of former US President Joe Biden in that infamous debate.
Bolsonaro (son of the ex-president Jair Bolsonaro who is imprisoned), who had pledged to join President Donald Trump’s “Shield of the Americas” security and political initiative, is the big loser. Flávio reportedly fled Brazil after losing. Nobody has to be a genius to advise him: “Flávio, you lost. Concede with dignity. Don't follow Trump's infamous playbook. Show some grace in defeat.” But Bolsonaro losing is great news not only for the people of Brazil, but also for the flora and fauna of the Amazon rainforest.
Thus, Lula, who is a former worker, a unionist, and a pragmatic politician, prevents the return to power of the far-right with the Bolsonaros.
Thus, Lula wins a fourth term as Brazilian president, after a dramatic run-off. The crucial matter is that Lula, alone, defeated Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Donald Trump, and Flávio Bolsonaro together. After all, defeated are those who stop fighting! Musk said Brazil's presidential election results do not “add up.” Relax, Mr. Trillionaire! Next to Lula, the Amazon rainforest won big time, ensuring it will not become a place for giant companies worth billions who want to mine for diamonds, gold, and extract petrol from its lands. And Anne Applebaum wrote in an X post: “In one day, two politicians—Bolsonaro in Brazil and Vucic in Serbia—with ties to Trump and his family have lost surprise elections, thanks to high turnout. The rise of the international far-right is not inevitable.”
Lula has four fingers on his left hand! The one finger that's missing, he lost at 17 years old when he was working as a metalworker and a mechanical lathe crushed his pinky finger. As he has said, “I arrived at three in the morning [at the hospital] smelling like work overalls, smelling like grease” and he looked so bad that the doctor didn’t bother to save his finger. In his eyes, that was the result of poverty.
During his years in power, Lula has supported democratic institutions and made important progress on protecting the forest—there is a web of laws protecting the Amazon now–and local communities who depend on it for their survival, but of course, for a few analysts, he had a mixed record in other areas. The economy has problems, but the same happens in countries like Germany and Japan.
Someone must acknowledge that deforestation has dropped drastically under Lula’s government, which has “set a target of completely halting illegal deforestation by 2030.” It reactivated the Amazon Fund, which is a mechanism backed by countries like Norway to finance conservation and monitoring, and stepped up enforcement through satellite imagery and policing. Lula also launched on November 6, 2025 the Tropical Forests Forever Facility to help developing nations to keep their forests intact.
The win in Brazil, the win in Serbia, the probable win in Israel against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s disastrous far-right coalition, and the upcoming midterms in the US, which will also test control of Congress, show that the power belongs to the people. That’s democracy in other words, and the people must have the final say.
Thus, Lula, who is a former worker, a unionist, and a pragmatic politician, prevents the return to power of the far-right with the Bolsonaros. So, this is a great result not only for the workers and democracy, but also for the giant Amazon lung. An electoral win for all the species that have lived there for thousands of years! Money is not above everything as capitalism’s big corporations teach, while in the end, the poor get crumbs if they’re lucky. The “pro-worker” left, headed by Lula, may have its own problems, but it is far better for society and the environment. The right thinks mainly of the plutocrats and the big profits; it leaves barbarism, which is a society in ruins.
The tireless Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said about Lula’s victory: “He will continue to fight for Brazilian workers and democracy over the next four years.” All the progressives and their grassroots movements around the world breathed the fresh air of the Amazon again.
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‘Good Day for Democracy’: Lula's Win in Brazil and Serbia Ousting Vučić Show Strength of ‘People Power’
"Israel could be next on Tuesday, then the US midterms the following week," said one human rights advocate. "The best case against the autocrats is the autocrat."
Oct 26, 2026
"There is nothing inevitable about the far right," said one former Obama administration official Sunday night as supporters of the left-wing Student List in Serbia poured into the streets of Belgrade and other cities across the Balkan country, celebrating their defeat of right-wing President Aleksandar Vučić, who has led the nation for nearly a decade and has been accused of corruption and autocratic rule.
The Student List's victory coincided with that of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was also backed by a student-led movement that marched through Rio de Janeiro and other cities in recent weeks, as US President Donald Trump was accused of election interference on behalf of right-wing Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, Lula's opponent.
Both countries reported high voter turnout in the pivotal elections, proving, as journalist Anne Applebaum said, "that voters can alter what feels like a historical shift."
In Serbia, Vučić said it was "clear that we have lost the election,” as results showed his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) had won about 105 seats while the Student List had won at least 135.
The Student List movement, officially registered by the Republic Electoral Commission as “Studentska lista—Studenti pobeđuju” (Student List—Students Win) began in November 2024 after the concrete roof of a newly renovated train station in Novi Sad collapsed, killing 16 people. Students and other Serbians blamed corruption and negligence by Vučić's government, and soon began blockades at a majority of the country's higher education institutions.
Rallies in the coming year drew hundreds of thousands of people. The political movement that grew out of the sustained protests called for an independent judiciary, a special prosecutor to hold public officials accountable, independent reviews of major infrastructure projects, a higher minimum wage, and better funding for education, healthcare, and agriculture.
A cardiologist and professor from Novi Sad, Ilija Srdanović, topped the list of 250 candidates that the Student List put forward ahead of the snap elections on Sunday, but the movement has said Srdanović will not automatically be its choice for prime minister. The list of candidates for Serbia's 250-seat Parliament includes doctors, farmers, activists, athletes, and actors.
“Never again tyrants in our country," Srdanović said after the defeat of Vučić, who was prime minister before becoming president in 2017 and has been Serbia's central political figure since 2012, developing a reputation for threatening his critics and cracking down on press freedom.
One Student List supporter, Sara, told The Guardian in Belgrade, “It’s very strange that on the very streets where the police beat us, on the streets where we retreated countless times in the face of the gendarmerie, we are now standing here as the victors."
Nebojsa Cosic said to Reuters: “The people have won! The people defeated a dictator! The people will lead Serbia!”
In Brazil, thousands rallied ahead of the runoff election between Lula and Bolsonaro, the son of convicted former President Jair Bolsonaro, a close Trump ally who is serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest for orchestrating a coup attempt after his election loss in 2022.
Right-wing candidates won a significant number of seats in the earlier elections, which followed Trump's push to secure partnerships across Latin America—stoking fears that Bolsonaro could win Sunday's runoff and pushing students to lead pro-Lula rallies and marches across the country.
At a Copacabana Beach rally in Rio on Saturday, supporters carried a yellow and green banner that read, "We are going to turn this around!"
Isabella Graze, a retired teacher who joined a 10-million member WhatsApp group aimed at mobilizing pro-Lula voters, told The Guardian that “being a soldier in Lula’s army... means fighting for Brazilian democracy. This isn’t a normal election."
The Serbian and Brazilian elections came two days before Israelis are set to vote, potentially ending the long-running term of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an accused war criminal whose US-backed government has waged war on Gaza, killing more than 74,000 Palestinians, and pushed to violently take control of more of the occupied West Bank.
They also came just over a week before the midterm elections in the US, with Democrats pushing for congressional control to rein in Trump for the final two years of his term. The campaign has been marked by openly racist, anti-Muslim attacks by Trump and his allies on Michigan US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, a Republican ad claiming that Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton lied about her abusive childhood, and persistent claims by the president that the cost of living is down, contrary to all evidence.
"Feeling so much hope from the results out of Serbia and Brazil," said Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.). "This took tremendous people power, organizing, and grit. Now it’s time to turn our country around, too."
Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch, said Sunday was "a good day for democracy."
"Israel could be next on Tuesday, then the US midterms the following week," said Roth. "The best case against the autocrats is the autocrat."
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US Urged to Recognize Lula's Win as Trump Ally Flávio Bolsonaro Demands 'Annulment'
"The Trump administration, which has close relations with the Bolsonaro family, could help defuse this threat by joining other governments in recognizing the election outcome."
Oct 26, 2026
Pro-democracy campaigners urged governments around the world, including in the US, to formally recognize Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva victory in Sunday's runoff election as his far-right challenger, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, refused to accept the results, sparking fears of political violence and another coup attempt.
"It is impossible to recognize the results. I am going to request the annulment of these elections," said Bolsonaro, the son of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted last year over a plot to violently maintain power following Lula's 2022 election win. On Sunday, the younger Bolsonaro pointed to the Brazilian Supreme Court's decision to keep polls open for two hours past the scheduled deadline as a reason to dispute the results—even though both Lula and Bolsonaro pushed for the extension, for different reasons.
Numerous world leaders, including Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, congratulated Lula on his reelection win over Flávio Bolsonaro, an ally of US President Donald Trump. The US-based Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), which sounded the alarm about the Trump administration's attempts to interfere in the Brazilian elections ahead of Sunday's runoff, said in a statement on Sunday that "governments—including the Trump administration—should immediately recognize the outcome, to prevent a possible coup or further violence."
"It’s likely that Flávio Bolsonaro will, like his father in late 2022, encourage his supporters to mobilize in order to try to overturn the election results, which could trigger a new wave of political violence,” said Alex Main, CEPR’s director of international policy who was in Brazil for the elections. "The Trump administration, which has close relations with the Bolsonaro family, could help defuse this threat by joining other governments in recognizing the election outcome."
Trump, who hosted Bolsonaro at the White House in May, has yet to comment on the Brazilian election results, as of this writing. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose department led the effort to tilt the election in Bolsonaro's favor, has also not publicly commented on Sunday's results.
Mark Weisbrot, CEPR's co-director, called Lula's win "a victory for democracy and independence in the Americas against the massive intervention from the Trump administration in favor of the Bolsonaro team."
"This included politically driven tariffs and other efforts to influence the campaign," said Weisbrot. "Trump also tried to stop the trial of Jair Bolsonaro, who—like Trump—refused to accept his defeat in a presidential election, and was convicted of attempting a coup d’état and attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law."
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Brazil's Lula Wins 'Historic Victory' Against Right-Wing Trump Ally Flávio Bolsonaro
"This shows that Trumpismo is waning, and it is our responsibility now to make sure that we kill the beast," Pennsylvania Democratic House nominee Chris Rabb said.
Oct 25, 2026
In a historic comeback, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva triumphed in Sunday's run-off election over right-wing challenger Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of former Brazilian President and convicted coup-plotter Jair Bolsonaro.
Lula's victory comes despite the best efforts of US President Donald Trump and his Big Tech backers, as Trump's administration openly intervened on behalf of Bolsonaro and Meta boosted pro-Bolsonaro over pro-Lula content on its social media platforms.
"Lula won, Brazil won, democracy won, the Americas won," said Pennsylvania Democratic House nominee Chris Rabb from Lula's campaign headquarters in Sao Paulo, Brazil, after the results were announced around 9:15 pm Brasilia time. "They declared victory for Lula da Silva for his fourth term against a raging fascist, rubber-stamped for Donald Trump."
"These elections have represented a historic victory for the majority of the Brazilian people, who mobilized to defend democracy against the threat of fascism."
Rabb noted that Lula's victory marked an important turning point for the left in Latin America, as far-right parties had won every other national election in the region since the start of Trump's second term. "This is the first victory for democracy in this hemisphere since Trump took office," Rabb said.
With 99.99% of the votes counted, Lula won by 51.79% to Bolsonario's 48.21%, making him the first Brazilian candidate since the restoration of democracy in 1985 to win a second-round election after coming in second in the initial round.
“I would like to thank the Brazilian people for the generosity they have shown me for a long time,” Lula said in his victory speech in São Paulo late Sunday. “And, in this second round, I want to thank the generosity of the Brazilian youth, who took to the streets to defend democracy.”
After finishing two percentage points behind Bolsonaro in the October 4 poll, Lula re-energized his campaign by finally shortening the Brazilian workweek from six to five days, as his supporters launched demonstrations against the far-right.
"These elections have represented a historic victory for the majority of the Brazilian people, who mobilized to defend democracy against the threat of fascism," Francesca Emanuele, senior international policy associate with the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), told Common Dreams from Sao Paulo, Brazil, where she was monitoring the elections. "It was the Brazilian people themselves (students, working-class, and middle-class Brazilians) who took to the streets and mobilized tirelessly from the very first day after the first round of voting to overturn the first-round results and secure Lula’s victory."
Reginaldo Lopes, a federal deputy for Lula's Workers' Party, told The Guardian: “I feel incredible… This is Brazil telling the world that the extreme right is fascist, that the extreme right is against Black people, is against the poor, against the state, against gay people... We are going to reorganize the democratic forces [in this country.]"
Sunday's victory did not come easily, as the Lula campaign complained of bus shortages in the key cities of Salvador and Sao Paulo, requesting that the Brazilian Supreme Court extend the voting by two hours. The court granted the request, so polls closed at 7 pm Brasilia time instead of 5 pm.
"Lula’s win is the first good news for the planet in a while!"
"Lula has won despite the unfair practices his campaign has faced from Meta, interference from the Trump administration, and severe disruptions to public transportation on election day in major cities (where up to 50% of bus fleets were reportedly out of service)," Emanuele told Common Dreams. "These disruptions disproportionately affected working-class voters, who rely heavily on public transportation and have historically been a key part of Lula’s electoral base."
She continued: "Despite all these obstacles, Lula’s campaign managed to turn around a first-round result that, just a few weeks ago, had seemed extremely difficult to reverse. This is a major victory for the majority of the Brazilian people."
Several advocates and lawmakers hailed the election results as a rebuke to the far-right and the Trump administration in particular.
"During his campaign, President Lula characterized 2026’s elections as a choice between 'sovereignty or submission.' Brazil has clearly chosen sovereignty," the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), who sent a delegation to observe both rounds of Brazil's elections, wrote in a statement.
Progressive Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) posted on social media: "People all across the world are fighting back against extremism. With Lula in Brazil, they just won. Authoritarian leaders always attack democracy because they stand no chance against the will of their people. Trump must respect the results and not undermine Brazil’s elections."
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said: "Congratulations to Lula on his extraordinary reelection victory in the Brazilian presidential election. Lula has stood up for Brazilian workers & democracy—and will continue to do so in the next four years."
"Lula's hard-fought victory is an indictment on the right-wing wave sweeping through Latin America," Joseph Bouchard, a journalist and researcher who focuses on Latin America, told Common Dreams. "Except for [ Salvadorian President Nayib] Bukele, the right across the region is still incredibly unpopular, and rightly seen as corrupt, autocratic, and uncommitted to fixing systemic issues. Lula shows there is still a fight for democracy worth having, while the region is plunged into its darkest, most regressive period since the Cold War. The entire region is populated by vassal states for US interests, who have declared states of exception to curtail rights, freedoms, and basic principles of social democracy, in the name of a failed and anti-human war on drugs."
Lula's victory also has planetary consequences, as he brought deforestation in the Amazon rainforest back down to record lows after it accelerated during the tenure of Jair Bolsonaro, who attacked environmental protections and Indigenous rights.
"Lula’s win is the first good news for the planet in a while!" wrote 350.org and Third Act co-founder Bill McKibben. "I bet it shaves a tenth of a degree off how hot our Earth eventually gets, which will save millions of lives. Thank you Brazil!"
Lula still faces a fight ahead, as Bolsonaro announced it was "impossible to concede the election result" due to the extension of polling hours, even though his team had also sought an extension in parts of southeastern Brazil because of unfavorable weather.
Bouchard pointed out that "Lula will fight an uphill battle with a far-right Congress, inept Supreme Court, and constant outside pressure.."
"Trump's silence on the result is worrisome, with Flavio not conceding and demanding an annulment," he told Common Dreams. "Sadly, much of the corporate press has legitimated these claims, despite the right's concerted efforts at destroying democracy. No matter how much the authoritarians try to tip the scales, the people can still prevail, if the left is willing to fight. This might prove to be a confidence boost to the demoralized and overpowered left all over the region, and may hopefully set the region back toward progress, hard fought after decades of dictatorship and neoliberal transitions."
US-based Lula allies urged others in the US to defend Brazil's democracy from Trump administration interference and to take their own stand against the far-right in the upcoming midterm elections.
The DSA wrote:
However, the fight continues—the thin margin of this victory indicates that continued struggle and mobilization will be crucial. As global capitalism fails to solve worsening problems of its own making, the capitalists turn to right-wing authoritarianism. Brazil’s left-wing coalition will face a right-wing Congress at home, a hostile Trump administration in the US, and hostile capitalists both [at] home and abroad in the years ahead. We of the DSA stand in solidarity with our comrades in the PT [Lula's Partido dos Trabalhadores], PSOL [Brazil's left-wing Socialism and Liberty Party], and Brazilian social movements in this fight for democratic self-determination.
This solidarity means recognizing our country’s role in the threat to Brazilian democracy. These elections were marred by interference from the US, whether by Trump’s politically motivated tariffs, or by manipulation of social media by US-based tech companies like Meta. They aimed to subvert Brazil’s democracy to favor its far-right allies grouped in the "Shield of the Americas," and to get their hands on crucial natural resources, such as lithium, cobalt, and rare earth minerals as well as petroleum and iron ore, which Brazil possesses in abundance and which Lula has sworn to protect as national patrimony. The DSA categorically denounces these meddlesome, imperialist efforts. We fight for a working-class foreign policy—one which centers peace, multilateralism, and respects national self-determination, free from US interference.
Rabb concluded his message with a call to action, and a celebration: "This is a big deal for us in the United States. This shows that Trumpismo is waning, and it is our responsibility now to make sure that we kill the beast. That beast is injustice, it's oligarchy, it's neoliberalism. All of these things. Now it's our turn, folks. November 3 is right around the corner, but right now I'm going to party with these Brazilians."
Update: This piece has been updated with commentary from Joseph Bouchard.
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Research Shows Meta Algorithm 'Actively Boosting' Bolsonaro Ahead of Brazil Election
"Meta is interfering in Brazil’s elections in plain sight—boosting Bolsonaro and suppressing Lula content."
Oct 23, 2026
Meta has insisted that its social media algorithms treat Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and right-wing challenger Flávio Bolsonaro equally, but research published Friday shows that Instagram is "actively boosting" Bolsonaro and conservative content in the days ahead of the country's high-stakes runoff election.
To test whether Meta was giving either of two presidential candidates favorable treatment, researchers with the nonprofit organization Ekō created a new Instagram account on October 14 and sought to show equal interest in Lula and Bolsonaro, the son of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. The researchers followed the accounts of both Lula and the younger Bolsonaro, as well as their respective parties, and viewed a selection of posts without engaging.
The researchers concluded at the end of their experiment that "Instagram’s algorithm aggressively promoted pro-Bolsonaro and right-leaning content" while "actively suppressing Lula’s official campaign account."
The content that Instagram's algorithm pushed toward the newly created account "was overwhelmingly political," the researchers found. "Of all 50 posts, 74%, were pro-Bolsonaro/right/leaning and only 18% were pro-Lula/left-leaning—glaring evidence of a significant right-wing bias in Instagram’s recommender systems."
"Pro-Lula/left-leaning content performed better per post on every engagement measure, yet was recommended far less often, undercutting any claim that Instagram’s algorithm is simply showing users content that is performing best," Ekō said. "Pro-Lula/left-leaning posts averaged 398,000 likes, around 64,000 comments, and 108,000 shares each—more than double the likes and over seven times the comments, and more than nine times the shares of the average pro-Bolsonaro/right-leaning post."
One of the posts that Instagram's algorithm served up to the new account features military police officer Sargento Castro standing alongside a smiling Bolsonaro.
"If you try to fight back," the caption of the post reads, "you’re going straight into a body bag."
Vanessa Lemos, a senior campaigner at Ekō, said the research shows Meta is "interfering in Brazil’s elections in plain sight—boosting Bolsonaro and suppressing Lula content."
"Meta must prove it is complying with the electoral court’s equal-treatment order, verify who pays for political ads, and make its moderation decisions appealable," said Lemos. "Unaccountable Big Tech cannot be allowed to derail democracy."
On Tuesday, Meta told Brazil's Superior Electoral Court that it "has adopted measures to ensure equal treatment," of Lula and Bolsonaro ahead of the October 25 runoff, Reuters reported. Lula has requested Bolsonaro's disqualification from the presidential race over Meta's alleged election interference. Meta employees have acknowledged internally that Lula's accounts have faced restrictions in the lead-up to the election.
Meta's conduct has drawn scrutiny from United Nations experts, who warned on Wednesday that "reports of restrictions on legitimate political expression on Meta platforms during Brazil’s elections raise concerns for freedom of expression, association, political participation and equal treatment of political viewpoints."
"Monitoring reports show thousands of accounts and posts have faced suspensions, reduced visibility, and sharing limits, including journalists, human rights defenders, civil society actors, and content creators,” the UN experts said. “Information, including from Meta employees, suggests that accounts linked to one side of the presidential race were disproportionately curtailed.”
Lawmakers from the US, where Meta is headquartered, wrote a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg earlier this week demanding that the company "take immediate action to ensure that, going forward, candidates and their campaigns in democratic elections receive equal treatment and access on your platform."
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By Delivering a Shortened Workweek, Lula Proves He's Still in the Running
Many US media outlets think the fight is over in Brazil, but it is far from over here; Lula is nearly tied in the polls and has a lot ahead of him.
Oct 17, 2026
Greetings from Rio de Janeiro, where President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is mounting a hell of a comeback after achieving the Workers' Party's 40-year goal of shortening the Brazilian workweek from six to five days.
Now, polling shows Lula is back in the fight, even as US media ignores it.
Polls Show Brazilian Presidential Race Tied
Following the first round of the election, where Lula trailed Flávio Bolsonaro by 1.8%, many wrote off Lula’s campaign. However, in the past week Lula has pulled off an impressive series of street mobilizations that have rocked the Brazilian presidential race, with over 1 million marching on Copacabana Beach on a Monday afternoon when Lula wasn’t even there.
With more than 38 million Brazilians not voting in the first round of the presidential election and Bolsonaro only leading by 2 million votes in the first round, many Bolsonaro allies worry that the scale and magnitude of Lula’s rallies could inspire massive Get Out the Vote efforts throughout the country.
The mobilizations helped create the energy that led the Brazilian Congress to pass a measure shortening the Brazilian workweek from six days to five Wednesday. This may now create enough energy to help Lula win the presidency.
Various polls this week have shown the race nearly tied.
A new PoderData poll shows Lula and Bolsonaro tied, with a little over a week until election day. Yet another poll released by Real Big Time Data shows that Bolsonaro is only leading by 1%. A third poll by CNT and MDA shows Bolsonaro at 50.5% while Lula has 49.5%
Bolsonaro Party Leader Worries About Mass Lula Mobilizations
With more than 38 million Brazilians not voting in the first round of the presidential election and Bolsonaro only leading by 2 million votes in the first round, many Bolsonaro allies worry that the scale and magnitude of Lula’s rallies could inspire massive Get Out the Vote efforts throughout the country.
In an audio message sent to party insiders, top Bolsonaro ally Congressman Gustavo Geyer said that he was worried about the potential of the street protests to mobilize the vote for Lula.
In the audio message, Geyer complained at length about the 4 million-strong WhatsApp group “Lula’s Army.” Previously, a Bolsonaro-appointed Supreme Court Justice, Kassio Nunes Marques, blocked the WhatsApp group for several hours before being overruled by other members of the Brazilian Supreme Court.
"The campaign of electoral terrorism that Lula and the PT [Workers’ Party] are conducting in a criminal manner—that 'Lula’s Army' channel, created by that 'Rachadones' character—is truly managing to mobilize the left in a way we have never seen before,” said Guyer. “The demons of Workers’ Party have crawled out of the catacombs of hell and are genuinely making an impact on the tracking polls.”
Lula Shortens Brazilian Workweek With Only One Vote Against
For nearly 40 years, the Workers’ Party has tried and failed to shorten the Brazilian workweek from six days to five. But this week, Lula pulled off a stunning victory when the Brazilian Senate voted to shorten the Brazilian workweek while not decreasing the pay of workers.
Only one senator voted against the measure, and Senator Flavio Bolsonaro skipped the vote rather than vote against it.
Brazilian labor leaders say that the success of the vote proves the momentum their campaign is having in the streets.
“The Bolsonaro family lost,” said Miguel Torres, the president of the Força Sindical labor federation. “It's a victory for workers.”
Bolsonaro Wants Supreme Court to Silence Unions
Fearing attacks from unions, Flavio Bolsonaro went to the Brazilian Supreme Electoral Tribunal, part of the Brazilian Supreme Court, this week to ask it to silence union attacks against him on social media.
Bolsonaro's lawsuit names 56 people, mainly union leaders and student leaders. Flavio wants the court to block these individuals from using their institutional channels to promote Lula.
"This offensive doesn't just target Lula's campaign. It's directed against public participation, against the right of citizens to organize, express support, and criticize a candidacy," said André Matheus, a specialist in freedom of expression and vice-president of the Lawfare Commission of the Institute of Brazilian Lawyers (IAB).
For more, check out ICL Noticias.
Help Cover Lula's Comeback Fight
Many US media outlets think the fight is over in Brazil, but it is far from over here. Lula is nearly tied in the polls and has a lot ahead of him. We've got nine days left, and Payday intends to cover the tough fight ahead.
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Lula Celebrates End of Brazil's 6-Day Work Week, Fulfilling Key Pledge Ahead of Election
"Those who work so hard to build Brazil also deserve having time to live."
Oct 15, 2026
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva celebrated on Wednesday night after Brazil's legislature overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment to end the country's six-day work week.
Under the amendment, which Lula has made a central plank of his reelection campaign, the work week will be shortened to 40 hours without a salary cut.
The amendment is projected to give an extra day off to millions of workers who previously had to work for six days under the old 44-hour work week.
In a Wednesday social media post, Lula celebrated the amendment's passage as "an historic achievement for millions of workers."
The Brazilian president said the shorter work week will mean "more time to live, rest, be with family, be with children as they grow, take care of yourself, and enjoy life."
"Those who work so hard to build Brazil also deserve having time to live," Lula added.
Polls show that Lula is currently locked in a tight race against rival Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who is still serving a criminal sentence for efforts to instigate a coup after his loss in the 2022 election.
According to a Wednesday report in The Guardian, the shortened work week could give Lula a boost among key demographics ahead of the October 25 presidential runoff.
Specifically, The Guardian noted that "the change is expected to affect mainly workers in retail, restaurants, and hotels," which were "one of the groups which Lula lost the most support from since the 2022 election, when he defeated Jair Bolsonaro."
Victor Escobar, a researcher at the Laboratory of Parties, Elections, and Comparative Politics, told The Guardian that the amendment's passage "could indeed benefit Lula’s reelection campaign."
Polls show that ending the six-day work week is overwhelmingly popular with Brazilian voters and Bolsonaro recently came out in its favor after months of signaling opposition.
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Democracy, Amazon, Human Dignity: What Hangs in the Balance for Brazil’s Life-or-Death Election
The choice on October 25 should not be about Lula’s limited social democratic tendencies. It is about protecting the Brazilian democratic project from a complete fascistic takeover.
Oct 14, 2026
On October 4, Brazilians handed the far-right their best result in decades. Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, eldest son and political heir of convicted coup plotter and former neofascist President Jair Bolsonaro, finished first with 47.03% of valid votes to left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s 45.16%, according to Brazil’s electoral court. The two meet in a runoff on October 25.
With a gap of about 2.2 million votes, more than 33.4 million registered Brazilians stayed home, the highest first-round abstention rate since 1998. Polling suggests the ideological blocs are holding firm, showing a dead heat or a narrow Bolsonaro edge. That is despite a cascade of scandals for Flávio, and despite an estimated 1 million people marching for democracy on São Paulo’s Avenida Paulista on October 11.
So the outcome may rest on those who sat out round one. Their choice will decide whether Latin America’s largest democracy, and the forest that regulates the planet’s climate, fall to an oligarchic, US-aligned far-right. Here is what hangs in the balance.
A Flávio Bolsonaro presidency would restore a movement that tried to overturn an election by force, now armed with a congressional majority, a revenge agenda, and the backing of the world's most powerful government and military.
Under Jair Bolsonaro, Amazon clearing rose about 60%, with more than 45,000 square kilometers destroyed from 2019 to 2022, according to official data. Under Lula, deforestation fell roughly 45%, to its lowest level in over a decade.
Flávio wants to resume his father’s project, which environmental groups call “ecocide.” He said in August he does not believe climate change is real, and his 76-page government plan never mentions it, Folha de S.Paulo found. Instead, it pledges to slash Ibama, Funai, and ICMBio, the agencies that enforce environmental law, protect Indigenous peoples, and manage national parks. It promises “agile” licensing that Folha reports would approve development (including fracking) permits automatically when agencies miss deadlines.
“There is concern that activities now considered illegal could simply be legalized,” warned Taciana Stec of the climate institute Talanoa. As Breno Rodrigues de Messias Leite of the Federal University of Amazonas put it, “He will have to respond to his electoral base, which is precisely rural producers.” That base of agribusiness, ranchers, miners, and land-grabbers could essentially destroy the Amazon.
Flávio is running as his father’s proxy. Jair Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year sentence, handed down by the Supreme Court in September 2025, for leading a plot to overturn the 2022 election that included plans to assassinate Lula, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, and Justice Alexandre de Moraes. It culminated on January 8, 2023, when Bolsonaro supporters ransacked Congress, the presidential palace, and the Supreme Court, the darkest day for Brazilian democracy since the dictatorship.
Flávio announced his candidacy after his father anointed him from prison, and said his first priority would be to release him. His brother Eduardo spent 2025 in Washington lobbying the Trump administration to punish Brazil with tariffs and sanctions over the prosecution. The sanctions have already had a disastrous impact on Brazil’s economy and sovereignty, and are hybrid warfare to meddle in the election in favor of Bolsonaro.
Now Flávio promises to go further. On October 6, he vowed to use Congress’ new right-wing majority to “change the Constitution” and "redemocratize” Brazil, reports The Rio Times. Coming from open fascists, it’s hard to believe their definition of “democracy.” “There is no way to accept the Supreme Federal Court the way it is,” he said. His plan would curb the powers of the court that convicted his father. His ironically named Liberal Party won 121 House seats and the largest Senate bloc, and his allies are closing in on the 308 votes needed to amend the Constitution.
One of the Bolsonarista camp’s positions has been the impeachment of Supreme Court judges and a purge of federal bureaucracy. In Bolsonarista vocabulary, "redemocratization" means dismantling the institutions that held anti-democratic destruction accountable. Lula’s efforts to crack down on foreign meddling by oligarchs, the US, Israel, and others would also be stopped, meaning Brazil’s democracy would essentially be held hostage by capitalist and foreign interests.
Flávio poses as an anti-establishment outsider. Yet Federal Police are investigating him for possible “money laundering, currency evasion, corruption” over the financing of Dark Horse, a hagiographic biopic of his father. Daniel Vorcaro, owner of the collapsed Banco Master and the center of one of Brazil’s largest financial scandals, allegedly sent R$61 million toward the film at Flávio’s request. The Intercept Brasil published voice notes of Flávio asking him for money.
A crypto platform handed out tokens to users sharing pro-Flávio content, which election lawyers called an illegal donation. Days before the first round, Meta blocked Lula’s campaign from running ads, citing unspecified violations. And the Bolsonaros sit at the center of a transnational far-right network. It runs through President Donald Trump, who hosted Flávio at the White House in May; Steve Bannon; Elon Musk, who waged war on Brazil’s Supreme Court in 2024; and now-convicted Israel- and Trump-linked, Argentine disinformation operative Fernando Cerimedo, who spread a toxic sludge of baseless fraud claims on various platforms and his own media networks after Jair’s 2022 defeat.
The Bolsonaros’ economic program serves that same oligarchic, far-right capitalist class. Flávio’s economic coordinator, Daniella Marques, calls Javier Milei’s Argentina a “great example” and has promised a R$200 billion “tesouraço,” or giant scissors, to public programs. Milei’s chainsaw drove Argentine poverty above 50% in his first months and has wiped tens of thousands of companies off the formal economy. Most of the public workforce has also been gutted. Flávio promises tax cuts, privatization, and an end to what he calls “dependence” on welfare, a threat to programs like Bolsa Família that tens of millions of poor Brazilians rely on.
Flávio would also surrender the sovereignty Brazil has built, including Pix—a free public payment system so successful that Washington targeted it in a 2025 trade probe—and diversified trade with China, the BRICS, and Europe. Lula's Brazil has also been a significant force in recognizing a Palestinian state, and in reforming the United Nations Security Council to balance the scales in favor of the Global South. Brazil has been a leader in multilateral finance and post-American economic sovereignty. Bolsonaro would gut all of it.
On October 7, a fire tore through a lab building at the Federal University of Pernambuco, a day after students there protested Flávio’s candidacy. Hours earlier, students had received messages threatening to “blow up the department” in Flávio's name. Bolsonarismo has instilled a climate of fear and terror, as these kinds of attacks are now commonplace by the far-right in Brazil. Bolsonaro has borrowed the “God, Homeland, Family” slogan linked to fascist movements.
With the far-right sweeping institutions across the hemisphere, Lula may be the last shield against a full-blown reactionary counterrevolution.
Jair Bolsonaro’s government slashed university budgets, and his movement smears them as factories of communism and enemies of the “homeland.” Flávio’s plan would tie research funding to business metrics like “productive impact.” Scholarships, he said in September, must be “for developing technology, innovation, artificial intelligence,” not fields that “add nothing.” Social sciences and humanities funding would likely be slashed, while there is a fast-tracking of AI and military expansion.
This is the family that made science denial a governing principle. Jair called Covid-19 a “little flu” and sabotaged vaccine purchases while more than 700,000 Brazilians died. A Senate inquiry recommended he be charged with crimes against humanity.
The Bolsonaros’ home base is Rio de Janeiro, where far-right militias of current and former police control whole neighborhoods, running extortion, land-grabbing, gambling, and drug and arms trafficking.
These militias are also in an all-out war against the left, with ties to the Bolsonaros. As a state legislator, Flávio honored Adriano da Nóbrega, an ex-police captain later identified as the leader of the militia hit squad known as the Crime Office, and employed Nóbrega’s mother and ex-wife. Ronnie Lessa, the ex-officer who confessed to murdering socialist councilwoman Marielle Franco in 2018, lived in Jair Bolsonaro’s gated condominium. This is the fascistic, militaristic, sheltered, nihilistic world the Bolsonaros live in.
Flávio also wants Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele’s model on security. After meeting El Salvador’s security minister in August, he promised 500,000 new prison spaces. “Brazil has few people in prison,” he said, in a country with more than 850,000 behind bars. He backs lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 14 and a national facial-recognition database, Brookings reports. He and his brother lobbied Washington to designate Brazilian gangs as terrorist organizations, which invites a US invasion. When Pete Hegseth posted video of a US missile obliterating a boat (a war crime), Flávio replied that “there are boats like this here in Rio de Janeiro.” He has pledged to join Trump’s “Shield of the Americas,” which has been used to bully left-wing governments and weaponize “narcoterrorism” to go after guerrillas and opponents, while shielding allies. Bolsonaro has also hinted at declaring a “state of exception” on crime, a euphemism for martial law. Most right-wing states in Latin America are now under a state of exception. The term, taking its origin in Nazi theorist Carl Schmitt, has been used in many Latin American autocracies to ban opposition, protests, and justify extrajudicial torture and murder.
Bolsonaro also has a horrific record on gender and LGBT+ rights. His father told a congresswoman she didn't even “deserve” to be raped, and told Playboy he would rather a son “die in an accident” than be gay. Liberal Party star Nikolas Ferreira donned a wig in Congress to mock trans women, and this year led a campaign to keep trans congresswoman Erika Hilton from chairing the Women’s Rights Commission. This, in the country that leads the world in killings of trans people.
This war on women and LGBT+ Brazilians is inseparable from the movement’s alliance with the evangelical far-right. Flávio sealed a partnership with megachurch pastor Silas Malafaia in May, betting that moral panic over “gender ideology” and “trans bathrooms” (echoing Trumpism) will deliver one of the country’s largest voting blocs. Alongside them was PL leader Sóstenes Cavalcante, sponsor of a 2024 bill to punish abortion after 22 weeks as homicide, even for rape survivors. A Bolsonaro government would pursue that agenda aggressively, even more as they would control Congress and the Supreme Court.
Under Lula, Brazil backed South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, defended the International Criminal Court, and refused to choose sides in Washington’s new cold war. Flávio would reverse it all. He has pledged that Brazil will be a “brother of Israel,” move its embassy to Jerusalem, and join Milei and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's Isaac Accords. In June, he offered Secretary of State Marco Rubio his transition team at the “disposal” of the US government. Bolsonaro launched his presidential campaign alongside Netanyahu.
Regionally, the right now governs Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Paraguay, Ecuador, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, and the Dominican Republic. Venezuela is a de facto US vassal state, and the Trump administration has signaled Cuba and Nicaragua are next.
If Brazil falls, Mexico would be the last major Latin American economy outside Washington’s thumb. An emboldened Trump administration, which has already threatened military action against Mexican cartels, would turn up the pressure on Claudia Sheinbaum, and may even look to topple her government.
This runoff is a referendum on democracy, human dignity, and ecological survival. A Flávio Bolsonaro presidency would restore a movement that tried to overturn an election by force, now armed with a congressional majority, a revenge agenda, and the backing of the world's most powerful government and military.
Lula is not above criticism. His government has backed oil drilling near the mouth of the Amazon and made its peace with agribusiness. But the choice on October 25 should not be about Lula’s limited social democratic tendencies. It is about protecting the Brazilian democratic project from a complete fascistic takeover.
Brazil, Latin America’s largest democracy, has survived colonial plunder, slavery, a 21-year dictatorship, neoliberal devastation, and multiple coup attempts. With the far-right sweeping institutions across the hemisphere, Lula may be the last shield against a full-blown reactionary counterrevolution. The 33 million Brazilians who stayed home on October 4 will need to show up, otherwise the world will get a whole lot darker.
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