The Lawmaker Who Built a Digital Campaign Key to Lula's Comeback
A 42-year-old Brazilian lawmaker drove a social media mobilization that he says helped Lula close the gap in Brazil's presidential election.
Key points
- André Janones is a left-wing congressman from Minas Gerais who had no official role in Lula's campaign.
- He ran a WhatsApp channel called "Lula's Army," which he launched after the first round.
- Lula trailed Flávio Bolsonaro by 2 points in the first round on October 4.
- Lula publicly thanked Janones after claiming victory.
André Janones says that whatever happens from here, his life has already been worth it. The 42-year-old left-wing congressman was one of the figures who pushed Lula's supporters to vote in Brazil's tight presidential election.
Janones had no official role in Lula's campaign and did not belong to his party. He represents a small city in the state of Minas Gerais. What he does have is experience in digital politics: since 2018 he has posted videos on Facebook, some of which went viral and helped him get elected to Congress.
After the first round on October 4, Lula trailed Flávio Bolsonaro by 2 percentage points. Many analysts had written the president off. Janones decided to push a WhatsApp channel called "Lula's Army," created in April, and issued a call to action on October 5. His central message was that Brazil could not afford another Bolsonaro in the presidency.
According to Janones, he worked on very little sleep during the last three weeks of the campaign, getting about four hours a night. On the Sunday of the runoff, the digital campaign focused on getting voters to the polls.
Lula claimed victory on Sunday and explicitly thanked Janones for his role. After that, the situation took a turn: Jair Bolsonaro, convicted of conspiring to carry out a coup after losing to Lula in 2022, fled Brazil for the United States after authorities ordered him to surrender his passport in a money-laundering investigation.