AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Voters in Brazil go to the polls today in a presidential runoff. The race is one of the tightest and most contentious in recent Brazilian history, and today's vote could result in yet another dramatic shift to the right in the region. NPR's Carrie Kahn joins us now from the capital, Brasilia. Hi, Carrie.
CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: Hi.
RASCOE: How tight is this race?
KAHN: Polls have the race at a statistical tie. In the first round, surprisingly, the incumbent, leftist icon Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, came in second, close behind 45-year-old Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, and he is the son of the former far-right president, Jair, who is currently serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup against Lula. Lula has been on the defensive ever since and has launched this all-out push to save his legacy. This is his last election bid, Ayesha, a huge loss, as you said, for the left in Latin America, which has seen a dramatic swing right and greater alignment with President Trump lately.
RASCOE: You're joining us from a polling station in the capital. How's the voting going?
KAHN: It's pretty amazing. This voting station is in a private university in a large suburb of Brasilia, and it's just been nonstop people coming in. At one point, I was on this ramp where people are coming and going, and I felt like I was on a metro station stop trying to get into - out of a crowded stadium. You know, everybody is just very energetic, and there are a lot of people. And it's - the ballot is very short, so people are moving in and out quite quickly. And turnout is really going to be critical with this race because it's projected to be so tight.
I spoke to Renato Freitas (ph). He's a 44-year-old tech worker, and he was one of the first this morning to get to this polling place. He says he's all in for Bolsonaro. He really wants Brazil to get much closer to Trump on a lot of fronts, including fighting Brazil's organized crime gangs. At one point, he even told me he would like to see a U.S. destroyer in the large lake here at the capital.
RENATO FREITAS: (Non-English language spoken).
KAHN: He says, the American government is a good government. It's honest. It's one of the right, and Brazil is - also needs to be one of the right. Turnout is really going to be key 'cause some 33 million people sat out the first round. Many Brazilians just say they are tired of politics, corruption. And the choices that they have in this election - many have told me that they really aren't thrilled that, once again, their only choices are a Bolsonaro and Lula.
RASCOE: How are the candidates trying to turn out those voters?
KAHN: We've seen in the last couple days huge rallies, all sorts of get-out-the-vote social media campaigns. I met 32-year-old Isadora Gomes da Silveira (ph). She was getting off a plane in Brasilia from Rio, and I interviewed her at the airport. She's registered to vote here. And so she had to come back to vote here, and she said it was worth all the money she spent to keep the Bolsonaro family out of power.
ISADORA GOMES DA SILVEIRA: I feel afraid. I feel sad. I feel like I cannot even think a lot. It breaks my heart.
KAHN: She works in a nonprofit that fights hunger, and she fears that Bolsonaro will cut all of Brazil's social support network, like free healthcare and anti-poverty programs.
RASCOE: What is Bolsonaro promising to do if elected?
KAHN: Flavio Bolsonaro's pledged to release his father from house arrest and impeach Supreme Court justices involved in his prosecution. He says that's what he's going to do right away. On on the campaign trail, though, he really hasn't discussed a lot of substantive issues. It's very much degraded in the last days to insults, and that was during two nationally televised debates. But Bolsonaro's done very well connecting with large segments of Brazil's society that the leftist Workers' Party has lost touch with.
RASCOE: What are the chances Lula can pull off another electoral victory?
KAHN: Ayesha, if he did, it would be quite a comeback, and it would be his fourth nonconsecutive term as president. He's been bringing out these large stars and artists and stepping up his social media campaign, which the right in Brazil has already always dominated, so we're going to have to see if he can pull it out in the last days here.
RASCOE: That's NPR's Carrie Kahn in Brasilia. Thank you so much.
KAHN: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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