Bloomberg Línea — Erika Hilton has been elected a federal deputy for the state of São Paulo with 231,785 votes, for the socialism and freedom party (PSOL), the first time that a trans person will occupy a seat in the country’s parliament, and the first time that a black transgender woman will represent São Paulo.
Having served a stint in the São Paulo Legislative Assembly, Hilton received the largest number of votes for a councillor in Brazil in 2020.
She chairs the country’s Human Rights Commission, and headed the first investigation into violence against transgender people in Brazil.
In her government plan, she prioritizes fighting hunger and inequality, and advocates a “real democracy for the majority,” to include women, blacks, LGBTQIA+ people, young people, seniors, workers, Indigenous peoples and people with disabilities.
According to the National Association of Transvestites and Transsexuals (ANTRA), 76 trans candidates stood for election in Brazil in 2022, 67 of them being transvestites and trans women, five transgender males and four candidates with non-binary identities.
