Bolsonaro so popular in Brazil that over 70 election candidates have borrowed his name

None of them are related to the president, Jair Bolsonaro – and in fact none of them are actually even named Bolsonaro. But in a sign of just how wildly popular his Trumpian brand of conservative politics is in many parts of the Brazilian hinterland, scores of candidates are tacking Bolsonaro onto their registered names appearing on ballots this Sunday. In all, more than 70 politicians have adopted it.

“His popularity is growing every day,” said Jair Sousa Silva, a former evangelical pastor who is running under the name Jair Bolsonaro for a city council seat in a town in the Amazon. “When I’m asking for votes from my brothers of faith, I’m known as Brother Jair, Pastor Jair, and also Jair Bolsonaro.”

The few exceptions are family members who are running in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, including Carlos Bolsonaro, the president’s son, who is seeking re-election as a Rio councilman.

The real Jair Bolsonaro is polling better nationally than he ever has before. While his detractors blame him for bungling the medical response to the pandemic, which has claimed more than 160,000 lives in the country, his administration’s decision to fork over large Covid relief cheques to one third of Brazilians has cut into poverty and shored up his support. Sunday’s elections, with all the Bolsonaros and Bolsonaro allies on ballots across the country, will serve as something of a referendum on the president two years before he faces re-election.

There is nothing illegal about borrowing a celebrity’s name to create a political nickname in Brazil. There is a long tradition of it in a country where politics often has a zany flair. Lula – as the leftist leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was known to everyone – was a popular name years ago, and to this day appears on a smattering of ballots across the country.