Sao Paulo mayor tests presidential waters amid voter anger
SAO PAULO — Just eight months into his job as Sao Paulo mayor, Joao Doria appears to be positioning himself as a presidential hopeful who can save Brazil from a seemingly bottomless pit of graft scandals, even while insisting he isn’t running.
Telegenic and media savvy thanks to years of working in television studios, the millionaire communications mogul has something the majority of Brazilian presidential hopefuls don’t: a name unsullied by allegations of corruption at a time when much of Brazil’s congress is believed to be under criminal investigation.
That image helped him shock the political establishment last year with a landslide mayoral victory in Sao Paulo. It was the first time in decades a mayoral candidate in the country’s largest city had won in the first round, automatically vaulting him into consideration for the October 2018 presidential election.
Since taking office Jan. 1, Doria’s routine denials of interest in the presidency have done little to quell speculation.