Daniel Santos, known as Dr. Daniel, won Pará’s first-round gubernatorial election with 51.36% of valid votes. His campaign strategist, Felipe Pimentel, said the campaign’s contrast between Santos’s modest background and the Barbalho family’s political influence helped frame the result as a call for change.
Pimentel told Folha that the campaign set the political weight of the Barbalho family against the image of a candidate presented as a milkman’s son. He said the David-and-Goliath narrative also spoke to voters’ desire for change.
Santos, a two-time mayor of Ananindeua, received 51.36% of valid votes in the first round. Incumbent governor Hana Ghassan of the MDB party received 46.53%. Ghassan had been deputy to Helder Barbalho, who left the governorship to run for and win a Senate seat.
Pimentel also described water-service quality as a central campaign issue. Barbalho’s administration had transferred water services to a concession, and the strategist said residents experienced a sharp decline in access and quality. Santos pledged to address the problem.
Pimentel said attacks on the candidate during the campaign also reinforced its central message. In his view, criticism itself helped portray Santos as the weaker challenger facing a political dynasty.