São Paulo Mayor Ricardo Nunes Attacks Fernando Haddad at Party Convention

São Paulo Mayor Ricardo Nunes (MDB) delivered an incendiary speech attacking former finance minister Fernando Haddad during a Republicanos party convention on Saturday ^[1].

The rhetoric signals an escalating confrontation between the city's current leadership and the Workers' Party as the 2026 election cycle intensifies. By targeting Haddad's record, Nunes aims to mobilize support for the re-election bid of Tarcísio de Freitas.

Speaking at the state convention in São Paulo, Nunes targeted Haddad's personality and professional record. He described Haddad as a "professorzinho de nariz empinado," a diminutive term suggesting an arrogant little professor ^[2]. Nunes said Haddad was the "pior ministro da Fazenda da história," or the worst finance minister in history ^[3].

Beyond personal insults, the mayor focused on early-childhood education to highlight alleged policy failures. Nunes said that when Haddad left the mayor's office in São Paulo, he left 120,000 children without preschool care ^[4]. This specific claim serves as a central pillar of the attack, framing the former minister as indifferent to the needs of the city's youngest residents.

The event took place as part of the broader strategy by the Republicanos party to consolidate their base. The speech focused on discrediting Haddad's tenure both at the municipal level and within the federal Ministry of Finance. Nunes said that Haddad's time at the treasury was ineffective, stating that his presence there only served to help Paraguay ^[5].

The convention serves as a platform for the coalition to contrast their current administration's goals with the legacy of the Workers' Party. By emphasizing the 120,000-child deficit in creches ^[4], the administration seeks to anchor the political debate in tangible service delivery failures, rather than abstract economic theory.