This article Lessons From Lula’s Historic Victory was published by The Nation.

The Brazilian left has stopped the right-wing wave in Latin America. Now it has four years to work out a succession plan.

After three of the most intense weeks in the history of Brazilian politics, Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva will be president again. Though he lost the first round of the presidential election earlier this month, he went on to win a historic fourth term, finishing 4.4 million votes ahead of Flávio Bolsonaro, the crooked oldest son of former president and convicted coup plotter Jair (the final tally was 51.79 to 48.21 percent). If it wasn’t clear before, it is now: Lula is the greatest popular leader of his generation and one of history’s most gifted politicians.

Flávio has predictably refused to concede, but Lula’s margin of victory was twice as large as his 2022 margin over Jair—and unlike his father in 2022, Flávio does not have the power of the presidency to try to stop Lula from taking office. Some of his closest allies have already fled to Miami, and his brother Eduardo, a former federal deputy who exiled himself to Texas a few years ago, suggested on a podcast last week that Flávio should join him in the United States.

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