2014 Rio Grande do Sul gubernatorial election

2014 Rio Grande do Sul gubernatorial election

October 5, 2014
 
Nominee José Ivo Sartori Tarso Genro
Party MDB PT
Running mate José Paulo Cairolli Abigail Pereira
Popular vote 3,859,611 2,445,664
Percentage 61.21% 38.79%


Governor before election

Tarso Genro
PT

Elected Governor

José Ivo Sartori
MDB

The Rio Grande do Sul gubernatorial election was held on 5 October 2014 to elect the next governor of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Since no candidate received more than 50% of the vote in the first round, a second-round runoff election was held on 26 October.

Incumbent governor Tarso Genro was running for a second term, a distinction not achieved in recent history. His main challengers were Senator Ana Amélia Lemos of the Progressive Party and former Mayor of Caxias do Sul José Ivo Sartori of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party.

Opinion polls leading up to the first round had shown Genro with a comfortable lead over his primary rival Lemos and Sartori steadily gaining support. Eventually, it was Sartori who defied opinion polls and ended comfortably in first place. Genro finished in second to advance to the runoff while Lemos finished in a distant third.

In the second round, Sartori defeated Genro with over 60% of the vote and was elected for a four-year term as governor.