A Portugese TV Star, Known for Feuding With Immigrants, Wants to Run for Mayor

Since then, the PSD has lost votes to Chega, and analysts say that may be partly why the party is so interested in Ms. Garcia. In many ways, her campaign seems to be less about winning – the PSD has not led Amadora in years – but more about changing the party’s image to suit the political extreme.

“This is a sign that you are grappling with the ideology of the extreme right,” said Marina Costa Lobo, political scientist at the University of Lisbon. “By choosing this woman as a candidate for the ethnically diverse Amadora, you are confirming a certain discourse.”

For her part, Ms. Garcia says she is often misunderstood. In an interview, she talked about growing up in Mozambique (where her father lived as a geologist) and arriving in Portugal at the age of 12, an experience that gave her an insight into the challenge of being an immigrant from Africa. Despite being white, she claims to have some black ancestors (from a grandmother) and notes that many of her relatives are darker than her.

In her television appearances, Ms. Garcia, 45, has a different tone. In 2016 she became a commentator on “SOS 24,” a television show focused on crime news, and soon became known for her provocative language and heated debate style, in which she often yelled at those who disagreed in the studio. Hate crime has been one of her most passionate subjects.

In 2019, Luis Giovani dos Santos Rodrigues, a 21-year-old student from Cape Verde, was on his way home from a party when a group of men armed with belts surrounded him and his friends. They beat Mr dos Santos, who died days later in a hospital.

Ms. Garcia soon entered into a debate over whether the attack should be treated as a hate crime.