Carlos Bolsonaro’s Santa Catarina Senate Bid Exposes Rifts on the Right

Overview

• Senator Jorge Seif defended Carlos Bolsonaro’s pre-candidacy on X, calling local resistance “parochial, small and xenophobic” and arguing the claim that Carlos would displace Carol de Toni is false.
• A live Instagram discussion collapsed into acrimony when state deputy Ana Campagnolo exited after Seif joined, having labeled the senator “disqualified” during a dispute over the party’s Senate slate.
• PL is drafting an accommodation plan that signals alternatives to the Senate race, including the vice spot on Governor Jorginho Mello’s 2026 ticket, to keep allies from leaving.
• Deputy Carol de Toni began talks to migrate to Novo and says she has also been courted by União Brasil, Republicanos, MDB and the future MBL party, even as members of the Bolsonaro family publicly express support for her.
• Carlos Bolsonaro’s entry unsettles a previously envisioned PL–PP arrangement that included Senator Esperidião Amin, raising concerns inside the coalition about the governor’s reelection configuration and the right’s lack of a clear arbiter.