Agradecimentos: We would like to acknowledge the helpful and insightful feedback we received on earlier versions of this article from M. Llanos, T. Dosek, the BLAR's editors and two anonymous reviewers. Our gratitude is extended to all researchers who have commented on this article during its presentation at the 78th Annual Midwest Political Science Association Virtual Conference, the 26th IPSA World Congress of Political Science, the XI Congreso Latinoamericano de Ciencia Política-ALACIP, and the 2022 LASA Congress. All responsibility for any errors or omissions in the analysis remains our own. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL Ver menos

Abstract: The growth of the far right and election results in Brazil are often associated with national or large-scale events. The multi-level features of these developments, namely party competition at the sub-national level, are overlooked in the literature. This article argues that changes in the Brazilian national party system – those observed from Bolsonaro's election, mainly – are rooted in sub-national political dynamics. Through a comparative and longitudinal analysis of multi-level executive and legislative elections, we find that, although there are distinct patterns of competition between the national-sub-national and within-country levels, this difference is not evident in volatility Ver menos