Lula schedules São Bernardo campaign launch, travel amid election rules
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva plans to open his 2026 re‑election campaign in São Bernardo do Campo, São Paulo, with a public act tentatively set for 16 August at Vila Euclides. The location, symbolic of his early union activism, replaces an earlier plan to launch the campaign in Ceará and reflects the PT’s strategy to focus on the state with Brazil’s largest electorate.
Lula will also continue travelling across Brazil despite the “defeso eleitoral” restrictions that prohibit campaign advertising and inaugurations. Visits scheduled for São Caetano do Sul, São José dos Campos, the Instituto Mauá de Tecnologia and the Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica are intended to support PT candidates ahead of upcoming state conventions, and the president described the rule as a “papagaiada desgraçada.”
In parallel, Lula posted a treadmill‑training video urging Brazilians to walk for health, saying, “Não precisa correr, andem.” The PT’s broader election strategy includes a targeted outreach to evangelical voters, emphasizing social‑program achievements while downplaying contentious issues such as abortion and same‑sex marriage.