 On 13 June 2010, after more than two years of widespread speculation, Rousseff launched her campaign as the official presidential candidate for the Workers' Party in the 2010 presidential election.At that time, former São Paulo State Governor José Serra, candidate for the center-right opposition bloc, had been at the top of the polls for over two years.With promises of maintaining Lula's popular policies, Rousseff was able to surpass Serra in all the polls by late July.