Record vote tally in São Paulo

Federal deputy Erika Hilton of the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) won reelection in São Paulo with 1,596,472 votes in Brazil's general elections on Sunday. With 99.87% of ballots counted, the result represents 5.9% of all valid votes cast in the state. Hilton surpassed the previous female record of 1,078,666 votes, established in 2018 by Joice Hasselmann. She became the second female lawmaker in the history of the Chamber of Deputies to cross the threshold of one million individual votes.

Nationally and statewide, Hilton placed second overall among all parliamentary candidates, trailing only Lucas Pavanato of the Liberal Party (PL), who received 3,038,438 votes in São Paulo. Hilton's total was nearly triple that of the third highest candidate in the state, fellow PSOL deputy Sâmia Bomfim, who secured 583,107 votes.

Lucas Pavanato3,038,438

Erika Hilton1,596,472

Sâmia Bomfim583,107

Lucas Pavanato

3038438

Erika Hilton

1596472

Sâmia Bomfim

583107

Data from the article text

Career trajectory and legislative record

Hilton's vote count increased by more than six times compared to her initial parliamentary victory in 2022, when she entered the Chamber of Deputies with 256,903 votes. Her political career began in municipal politics when she won a seat on the São Paulo City Council in 2020 with 50,508 votes, which was the highest municipal tally for a female council candidate at that time. Born in Franco da Rocha in the São Paulo metropolitan area, Hilton experienced street homelessness and sex work during her youth following expulsion from her family home, before entering student activism and community organizing.

During her first term in Brasília, Hilton led the PSOL-Rede parliamentary federation and assumed the presidency of the Commission for the Defense of Women's Rights in March 2026. In Congress, she advanced legislation protecting transgender people and combatting racism and religious intolerance. She also led parliamentary efforts to back President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's proposal to amend the constitution to reduce the national workweek to 40 hours across five days.

Broader congressional and presidential context

The general elections decided more than 1,650 public offices across Brazil, producing conservative majorities in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate. In the presidential race, Flávio Bolsonaro led the first round with 47% of the vote, placing two percentage points ahead of incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and sending the contest to a second-round runoff on 25 October 2026. Addressing the outcome, Hilton reflected on the broader balance of power across Brazil's institutions.

“When we are in politics, we do not only fight for ourselves, but for a project of Brazil.”

Hilton also emphasized her party's institutional goals following the legislative vote.

“We fight in politics for a more plural, more diverse, more representative Congress. We would have liked to win the state government, and we are in a tight contest for the presidency of the republic.”

Hilton and Duda Salabert, who also won reelection on Sunday, remain the first transgender deputies elected to Brazil's National Congress.