VIDEO: 21-year-old influencer becomes Brazil’s youngest federal lawmaker

Ana Elisa Santos Silva, a 21-year-old influencer and law student, has been elected to Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies representing the state of Minas Gerais, making history as the youngest federal deputy in the country.

Santos Silva, a member of the Workers’ Party (PT), won 524,219 votes in the October 4 election. She finished second among all candidates for the Chamber in Minas Gerais, behind Nikolas Ferreira of the Liberal Party.

Her result also made her the most-voted woman in the history of Minas Gerais in elections for the Chamber of Deputies, according to the information cited in the source. She is expected to take office in February 2027.

Born on August 31, 2005, in Divinópolis, in central-western Minas Gerais, Santos Silva is the daughter of a Black woman who worked as a teacher and raised her as a single mother. Her family has roots in the municipality of Oliveira, also in the state.

Before entering electoral politics, Santos Silva built a large following through social media, where she has nearly two million followers. Her content has focused on political issues as well as social rights, racism, public education, feminism and labor.

She also studies law and worked as an intern at the Regional Labor Court of Minas Gerais before launching her first political campaign. According to Santos Silva, she was invited to run for office in March, after previously developing most of her political activity online.

Her rise within the PT has also included criticism of the party itself. Santos Silva has called for changes within the organization to increase the participation of young people and Black people in decision-making positions.

During the election campaign, she also offered to help President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s campaign reach voters through social media ahead of the presidential runoff.

After learning the election results, Santos Silva credited her victory to her persistence and the audience she had built online. She argued that social media has become an important factor in elections and urged her party to strengthen its presence on those platforms.

With her election, Santos Silva is set to move from political activism and digital content creation into Brazil’s federal legislature at just 21 years old.