Increasing violence in Brazil's Bahia state challenges Lula in his election stronghold

SALVADOR, Brazil -- On the day they were going to kill him, Evilásio Santos da Silveira Júnior, 33, told his sister he was going grocery shopping in the city of Salvador in northern Brazil where the line between the crossfire of rival drug gangs and police lethality has been increasingly blurred. But he never came back home.His death and the questions surrounding it encapsulate a major hurdle for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to beat Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro in October’s national elections.The rising violence and critiques of government response could impact Lula in his stronghold state, where he won 72% of votes in the 2022 runoff against then incumbent Jair Bolsonaro.The 80-year-old president needs to maintain a strong lead with the 11 million baianos, as the state's residents are called, to beat his predecessor’s son, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro. The former trade unionist is polling below his results four years ago in Bahia, and public security is pointed to as the key reason. Yet the president’s campaign trusts the appeal of his flagship social programs with baianos so he can once again win big.Born and raised in the colorful capital of Bahia, Júnior died after bleeding for hours ...