From 2 million followers to 524,000 votes: Ana Elisa, a 21-year-old influencer, joins Lula's digital campaign and reports threats
The youngest federal deputy ever elected in Brazil says her address and documents were leaked after she joined the president's team.
Foto: Reprodução/CNN BrasilFour days after emerging from the polls as Minas Gerais's second most-voted federal deputy, influencer Ana Elisa Santos Silva (PT-MG) became part of Lula's re-election campaign. A law student born in Divinópolis, with about 2 million Instagram followers and nearly 1 million on TikTok, she received 524,219 votes in her first race ever, second only to Nikolas Ferreira (PL). At 21, she became the youngest federal deputy ever elected in Brazil, according to local press.
On Wednesday (7), she was in Brasília with the president and campaign leadership, alongside other lawmakers with a strong online presence, to form a group to boost social-media messaging in the runoff, which Lula contests against Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL), the first-place finisher on the 4th. Since the count, Ana Elisa had been advocating short videos, Reels and TikTok instead of long texts. 'This is the moment for us to really set ignorance aside,' she said in a video after the result.
On Thursday (8), at a press conference in the Chamber of Deputies, the deputy-elect said she has faced 'a coordinated attack' since arriving in Brasília, including racist and sexist abuse, rape and death threats, and the leak of her address, phone number and personal documents. She said the party has provided a security escort. During the campaign, Ana Elisa had already filed a police report over threatening emails, which her office confirmed to CNN.
