Brazil Court Makes Ricardo Salles’s Senate Exit Official, Votes for Him Will Be Void

ELECTIONS · BRAZIL

Ricardo Salles is now formally out of Brazil’s Senate race in São Paulo. On Friday 2 October, the São Paulo Regional Electoral Court (TRE-SP) approved his withdrawal, two days before the vote.

He quit on 28 September, as reported in Brazil’s Right Unites in São Paulo Senate Race as a Bolsonaro Son Struggles. Friday’s ruling makes it binding: his name stays on the voting machines, but votes for him will be void.

A ruling on the last working day

Salles, a Novo party federal deputy and former environment minister, filed at 15:32 on Friday, the legal site JOTA reported. Judge Danyelle Galvão of the TRE-SP approved it the same day, according to O Globo and Estadão.

The court’s website now lists his candidacy as “Renúncia” (withdrawn), Metrópoles reported. That status is used only once an electoral court has approved a withdrawal.

Voting intention for São Paulo's two Senate seats in the Datafolha polls of 24 September and 1 October 2026 (fieldwork 28–30 September, 1,610 interviews, margin of error two points). Source: Datafolha, via CartaCapital, 1 October 2026.

Because the machines were already loaded and sealed, his name, number and photo will still appear on screen. Votes for him will count as null, O Globo and CartaCapital reported.

Why the paperwork mattered

On 1 October, JOTA reported that the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) still listed Salles as a regular candidate. Without approval before polling day, it said, votes for him would have counted as valid.

That is not a trivial point. In Datafolha’s 1 October poll, 2% still named Salles, down from 4% on 24 September, CartaCapital reported.

That poll’s fieldwork began on the day of his announcement. Governor Tarcísio de Freitas, who stood beside Salles on 28 September, played the risk down on Friday.

Campaign polling shows that Salles’s voters know he has quit, the governor told reporters, as quoted by O Globo. “Obviously you always lose something, but I believe this will not be decisive,” he said.

The campaign money still has to be accounted for

Withdrawal does not end Salles’s obligations. He must still account for his campaign spending to the electoral courts, Metrópoles and Estadão reported.

According to his filings with the TSE, his campaign had received R$4.79 million (about US$917,000 at R$5.22 per dollar, 2 October close), G1 reported. Spending had reached R$3.07 million (US$588,000) by 28 September, it said.

About R$3.1 million (US$594,000) came from public campaign funds through the Novo party, G1 and JOTA reported. Printed campaign material alone cost R$893,000 (US$171,000), according to G1.

On 2 October, state deputy Emídio de Souza of the Workers’ Party (PT) asked electoral prosecutors to examine that spending, JOTA and Metrópoles reported. He questions whether public money paid for ads that also favoured Derrite.

He cites a video in which federal deputy Nikolas Ferreira asks for votes for both men. Salles’s campaign boosted it through 30 ads costing about R$250,000 (US$48,000), JOTA said, citing Meta’s ad library.

TSE rules bar campaign-fund transfers to candidates outside a party’s coalition. JOTA notes that courts differ on whether joint advertising counts as one.

The request is a complaint, not a charge, and no investigation has been reported as opened. “The campaign was run in an exemplary way and the expenses are all duly recorded,” Salles told G1.

A four-way tie for two seats

São Paulo elects two senators on Sunday, and each voter casts two Senate votes. Datafolha’s latest poll showed Marina Silva on 16%, André do Prado and Simone Tebet on 15, and Guilherme Derrite on 14.

With a two-point margin of error, all four are statistically tied, as reported in Brazil Datafolha Polls Show Tight Senate Races. Prado, of the Liberal Party (PL), and Derrite, of the Progressistas (PP), both run on the governor’s slate.

Both gained after Salles endorsed them. Marina Silva (Rede) and Tebet (Brazilian Socialist Party, PSB) also edged up, so no one has a clear lead.

What Is Not Yet Known

It is unclear how many voters will still choose Ricardo Salles on Sunday. Results are due on the night of 4 October.

Electoral prosecutors have not said whether they will act on the complaint. It is also not known whether unspent campaign money will be returned, a question Salles did not answer directly when G1 asked.

Sources: O Globo (3 October 2026); Estadão (2 October 2026); CartaCapital (2 October 2026) and its Datafolha report (1 October 2026); Metrópoles (2 October 2026); JOTA, 1 October and 2 October 2026; G1 (29 September 2026).

This article was drafted with automated assistance and reviewed before publication. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief