This research seeks to describe the impact of the COVID-19 theme on the discourse used to
compose the content of electoral propaganda on TV of the Free Electoral Advertising Schedule
(HGPE) of the candidates for City Hall of São Paulo in the 2020 election. analyzed the TV
programs aired on the HGPE of ten candidates who were entitled to television time for electoral
propaganda in the first round and the two competitors who disputed the second round of the
election in São Paulo. In all, 59 programs were analyzed in the first shift, broadcast between
October 9th and November 12th, 2020, and 14 programs broadcast in the second shift, from
November 20th to 27th, 2020. The research was based on Field Theory by Pierre Bourdieu, as
a theoretical support, seeking to clarify the argument in which he sees the COVID-19 Pandemic
as a social fact that caused several changes in the political field, even constraining its agents to
take this theme to the electoral TV programs at HGPE. In the bibliographical review, studies
are presented that analyze the evolution of research on HGPE in Brazil, the lines of observation
already constructed by several authors, the contribution that electoral TV programs have in the
formation of public opinion and the influence of the vote, in addition to presenting the rare
studies in the area that address the Pandemic and HGPE. Laurence Bardin's theory of Content
Analysis was used to support the entire methodological path, also bringing up-to-date points of
view that are specific to the analysis of HGPE in Brazil, such as the one developed by the
Research Group on Electoral Communication - CEL, of the Federal University do Paraná,
which served as support for the analysis and categorical division of the research. The analysis
of all the material demonstrated how the speech construction strategy was, through the HGPE,
of each of the candidates, in the first and second rounds. The result shows that only half of the
candidates in the first round dealt with the Pandemic theme in their electoral programs. The two
candidates who ran in the second round adopted the Pandemic theme in their HGPE programs,
with the candidate defeated in the election, Guilherme Boulos, spending almost insignificant
time to address the Pandemic. The studies showed that the candidate for re-election for mayor
of São Paulo, Bruno Covas, who won the election in 2020, was the one who most used the
Pandemic category in the speech released at HGPE, both in the first and second rounds. Having
only the HGPE as an observation point for the analysis, it is not possible to categorically state
that the fact that Bruno Covas used a greater percentage of time to deal with the Pandemic was
decisive for his victory at the polls, but what the study proved was that the candidate for re-
election adopted a speech that was more sensitive to a problem that had a strong impact on the
daily lives of the population around the world, significantly altering the routine of all humanity,
causing a global financial recession, altering the social system and installing a health crisis
without precedents.
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