Erika Hilton
A Brazilian politician who brought the experience of a Black trans woman into national politics.
Erika Hilton was born in Franco da Rocha in 1992. She grew up in São Paulo state and has spoken about being forced from home as a trans teenager, living on the streets and doing sex work to survive. She later resumed her education and studied at the Federal University of São Carlos.
In 2020 she won a seat on São Paulo’s city council for the Socialism and Liberty Party, becoming its first trans woman councillor. Her campaign received more votes than any other woman’s in a Brazilian municipal council election that year.
Two years later Hilton and Duda Salabert became Brazil’s first openly trans federal deputies. Hilton’s work addresses racism, transphobia, poverty and violence against women, drawing on experiences rarely represented in the country’s political institutions.
In March 2026 she became the first trans woman to chair the Chamber of Deputies’ women’s rights committee. That October she was re-elected with around 1.6 million votes, the highest total a woman had received in an election to the chamber. Her rise brought greater visibility while also exposing her to persistent political attacks.