The Evolution of
Far-Right StrategieS
in Brazil’s 2024 Municipal Elections
Pedro Telles
Pedro Telles is a Programme Director and Founding Board Member at D-Hub, a Professor at Fundação Getulio Vargas’ School of International Relations (FGV RI), and Senior Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
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The narrow margin by which Bolsonaro lost to Lula in Brazil's 2022 Presidential election indicated that far-right ideas still hold a strong appeal for voters, while also opening space for new extremist leaders to emerge. As I write this text, Brazil has just gone through its 2024 Municipal elections and one player has made extraordinary use of this opportunity: Pablo Marçal, running for mayor of São Paulo – the country's biggest city and a bellwether for national politics.
Marçal’s campaign marks an evolution of far-right electoral strategies in the country, and its effectiveness is likely to attract populist imitators around the world. As a coach and influencer who had millions of followers before becoming a candidate, Marçal used his extensive digital presence and solid base of supporters to challenge traditional electoral norms and disrupt the political landscape – winning 28,4% of the votes in a very close first round race (not enough to make it into the final round, but enough to position him as a serious candidate for 2026 and disrupt Bolsonaro's hegemony as leader of the far-right).
At the core of Marçal’s strategy lies a simple idea, inspired by controversial influencer Andrew Tate: decentralizing content production and distribution by organizing followers and offering them financial incentives to make campaign materials go viral. Rather than relying solely on his own campaign team and social media channels, Marçal encouraged his supporters to create and share videos and memes about his speeches and public appearances. Known as “cut contests”, and organized on a Discord channel with tens of thousands of members, Marçal offered cash rewards to whoever could produce the most viral pieces of content. With so many supporters competing and only a few rewarded, the internet was flooded with Marçal-related content at a much lower price than he would have had to pay for ads.
This model not only increased the volume, reach and engagement of content promoting his candidacy, but also made it more difficult for authorities to monitor his campaign activities. Although the strategy goes directly against Brazil's electoral laws, which prohibit candidates from paying for voters’ support, Marçal used it for a long time before being stopped by the electoral court (starting months before the official electoral period), and his supporters continued producing content even after the court took action.
Marçal was also able to harness existing far-right networks on social media and messaging apps originally built to support Bolsonaro, building on his popularity with this audience as an influencer and because of his past record of support for the former president. This digital ecosystem — mainly Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram groups and channels — largely shifted its support to Marçal, providing him with a ready-made audience of right-wing voters. The strategic alignment with bolsonarista networks allowed Marçal to tap into a base already distrustful of mainstream media and receptive to his style of viral, meme-driven content.
Marçal’s rise within Bolsonaro’s base has not been without controversy. His rapid ascent drew public criticism from the Bolsonaro family, particularly from the former president's sons Carlos and Eduardo, who accused Marçal of trying to divide the right-wing movement. Despite these attacks, Marçal still managed to position himself as both a continuation of and a challenge to bolsonarismo — and drew so much support that eventually Bolsonaro and his sons stopped the attacks and adopted a stance of cautious dialogue. Marçal’s ability to fracture the far-right political space in Brazil suggests he's not just a flash in the pan, but a serious contender to become its dominant force.
Another aspect of Marçal’s campaign was his obsessive focus on viral content and memes. Every public appearance was planned to maximize the creation of short, shareable clips designed to go viral. From making use of persistent, disruptive attacks on opponents in televised debates to pranking journalists, his meme-based strategy allowed him to bypass traditional political discussions and generate content that spread across social media with the support of a tech-savvy comms team able to produce videos and images at breakneck speed. By prioritizing volume over substance, Marçal highlighted and deepened the power of digital platforms in shaping modern political campaigns — and the importance of treating digital communications as a central element in electoral strategy-building.
Marçal’s campaign was not just about one candidate — it represents a broader trend in global politics where digital platforms are reshaping the rules of electoral engagement, often at the expense of democratic values. For politicians and activists working to defend democracy, understanding and adapting to these new tactics is critical, just as much as the fight for better regulation and law enforcement to police their illegal and unethical aspects.