Rio’s Right Tries to Rebuild Campaign as Castro Scandal Shadows Race

Rio de Janeiro’s Liberal Party (PL), the right-wing party associated nationally with Jair Bolsonaro, is trying to strengthen Douglas Ruas’s run for governor while distancing him from former governor Cláudio Castro, a party ally now under federal investigation.

Ruas, 37, is president of Rio de Janeiro’s state legislature, the Alerj, and was Castro’s cities secretary until late March. According to O Globo, his campaign has moved to hire new communications teams and sharpen its attacks on Eduardo Paes, the former Rio mayor and Social Democratic Party (PSD) candidate who leads early polls.

A Candidate Under Pressure

O Globo reported that Ruas has a pre-contract with political marketer Paulo Vasconcelos, who also works on Ronaldo Caiado’s presidential campaign, and has brought in Daniel Braga, a former adviser to João Doria, to manage his social media. The push comes as local political observers question whether Ruas will stay in the race, a claim he and PL officials deny.

“The candidacy is irreversible. I am already running the pre-campaign,” Ruas told O Globo. “I will introduce myself to the population so they know Douglas Ruas and make the best choice.”

The strategic problem is clear. In a Genial/Quaest poll commissioned by Genial Investimentos and published in April, Paes led with 40% in one scenario without former governor Anthony Garotinho, while Ruas had 10%. In a simulated runoff, Paes beat Ruas by 49% to 16%, with 16% undecided and 19% saying they would cast a blank or null vote or not vote. Manchete Rio reported that the survey interviewed 1,200 voters from April 21 to 25, with a three-point margin of error and registration number RJ-00613/2026 at Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court.

Castro Becomes a Liability

The campaign is unfolding after Castro resigned before a Superior Electoral Court (TSE) ruling in which he was convicted of abuse of political and economic power in the 2022 election, according to Terra. His departure opened a legal dispute over whether Rio should hold a direct election or an indirect vote in the state legislature.

Castro has also become politically toxic after Brazil’s Federal Police searched addresses linked to him in an investigation involving Rioprevidência, Rio’s public pension fund, and investments tied to Banco Master. Diário do Rio, citing O Globo, reported that investigators suspect technical steps were bypassed and investment decisions were made against internal policy and regulatory standards. Castro’s lawyer, Carlo Luchione, did not comment on the case and said he had not yet seen the court decision authorizing the searches.

Ruas’s allies now want to separate his image from Castro’s while accusing Paes of trying to dominate the ethics debate. O Globo reported that Ruas posted a video saying he would not protect anyone accused of wrongdoing. The post also displayed news items with allegations against Paes.

Court Fight Continues

Paes has used the moment to tie Ruas to the group that governed Rio in recent years. In a post on X, he called Castro’s allies a “mafia” and described Ruas as the former governor’s “pupil,” according to Diário do Rio and O Globo. Those are Paes’s accusations, not judicial findings against Ruas.

The dispute also has an institutional dimension. Since late March, Rio’s interim governor has been Ricardo Couto, president of the Rio de Janeiro State Court of Justice. The state legislature asked Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court (STF) to let Ruas assume the interim governorship after his election as Alerj president on April 17.

Justice Luiz Fux rejected that request on May 29, Terra reported. Fux said the STF plenary had already ordered Couto to remain in office until a new decision in the cases over Rio’s succession rules. For now, Ruas remains both a candidate trying to build name recognition and a legislative leader blocked from occupying the governor’s chair before the campaign formally begins.