Brazil's Municipal Elections Mark Record High for LGBT+ and Indigenous Candidates

The 2024 Brazilian municipal elections for mayors and city councilors delivered a record number of LGBT+ and Indigenous candidates, reflecting a long-term, fundamental shift in political representation across the country. The number of LGBT+ candidacies grew by 57% compared to the 2022 general election cycle, with a record 514 names confirmed for the race. Despite a drop in the total number of candidates nationwide, the proportion of self-declared LGBT+ candidates more than doubled, rising from 1.12% in 2022 to 2.5% of the overall candidate pool in the 2024 municipal race, according to an analysis of the data.

For the first time, Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE) allowed candidates to voluntarily register their sexual orientation and gender identity, providing official data that human rights organizations previously collected via independent surveys. This institutional shift is viewed by activists as a historic milestone, bringing what was once an invisible population into the formal political structure. Of the candidates who ran, a record 225 were elected to office—a 130% increase over the 2020 municipal elections, with high-profile victories for black LGBT+ women in capital cities such as São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

Indigenous candidacies also hit a record high, with 2,479 people running in the 2024 municipal elections, representing a 14.13% increase from the previous municipal race in 2020. This growing visibility follows the TSE’s 2014 mandate that required candidates to declare their race and color for national elections, and its implementation in municipal races starting in 2016. The resulting data revealed a stark contrast with other racial groups: candidates who self-declared as Indigenous were the only group to register a growth in total votes compared to candidates who declared themselves as white, Pardo (mixed-race), Black, or Asian.

The increasing success of these traditionally underrepresented groups in the municipal sphere is seen as a critical proving ground for the 2026 general elections, when Brazilians will vote for president, state governors, and federal lawmakers. The record participation rates suggest a growing political maturity and organizing power within the Brazil Indigenous and Brazil LGBT+ communities, who are leveraging new data transparency to push back against decades of exclusion. Their victories across the country’s 5,568 municipalities are laying a foundation for more consequential political gains at the state and federal level in the coming cycle.

The continuing challenge for both groups remains securing proportional representation, as the number of elected officials still lags far behind their presence in the general population. Advocates for Indigenous candidates and LGBT+ candidates point to a systemic lack of financial investment from political parties and a continued struggle for visibility in more remote or conservative areas as primary hurdles that must be overcome before the 2026 elections.