Pre-presidential candidate, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro has intensified his search for support among businessmen and investors in Faria Lima, aiming to reduce distrust in the financial market and demonstrate his political viability outside the traditional core of Bolsonarism.
Flávio left late this Wednesday morning for São Paulo, where he participated in a closed lunch with around forty businessmen, described by his advisor as a “meeting with the market”.
The meeting takes place at the home of businessman Gabriel Rocha, without the presence of the press and with a restricted list of guests.
Gabriel is the nephew of Flávio Rocha, chairman of the board of directors of Grupo Guararapes, controller of Riachuelo. Flávio Rocha is known for his historical proximity to former President Jair Bolsonaro, having been one of the businessmen most identified with Bolsonarism under the last government.
For the senator’s allies, the environment helps create a more favorable dialogue with a market still reluctant to his candidacy.
This is not the first approach to approaching investors. Last Thursday, Flávio attended a lunch with businessmen at the UBS headquarters, also in São Paulo, to try to lure them out of the orbit of São Paulo Governor Tarcísio de Freitas. The meeting was attended by around 40 guests and was described by participants as a first effort to “introduce the senator” to the capital’s business community.
The offensive against Faria Lima comes after clear signs of resistance from the financial sector. On the day of the pre-candidacy announcement, the dollar rose sharply and the stock market fell, a move associated by market agents with increased political uncertainty. Since then, interlocutors report that Flávio has become an untested name, with doubts about institutional predictability, governability and the capacity for broad articulation.
In conversations with businessmen, the senator reportedly insisted that he would continue the economic model adopted under the Bolsonaro government, with a commitment to fiscal adjustment, tax cuts and less state intervention. He has also sought to present himself as the “more moderate” Bolsonaro in the family, arguing that he carries more political baggage than his father did when he rose to the presidency in 2019.
The approach with investors is also seen as a response to the resistance Flávio faces in other strategic sectors. Centrão leaders, agribusiness representatives, evangelical leaders and members of public security continue to be cautious about their electoral capacity and continue to point to Tarcísio as the most competitive name to take on President Lula in 2026.
In this context, allies believe that obtaining a certain degree of support from the financial market can constitute a guarantee of political viability, helping the senator to reduce his isolation within the right itself.
The Genial/Quaest research, published yesterday, is considered an auxiliary element in this context. In the second round scenario, the survey shows Lula with 46% voting intentions, against 36% for Flávio. In the same section, the PT member appears with 45%, while Tarcísio has 35%. The performance numerically superior to that of the governor of São Paulo began to be cited by allies as an argument to strengthen the thesis that the senator can gain ground.
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