Brazil’s campaign funding continues to favor the election of white men

Sanny Figueiredo, the first black woman to ever run for the Senate representing the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, campaigned on a platform that defended public policies aimed at women and reducing social inequalities. But she never polled at more than 1 percent, and on Election Day received a mere 0.54 percent of the vote. After a quick glance at the details of her campaign, it’s no surprise why.

Ms. Figueiredo received just BRL 100,000 (USD 18,547) from her party, the Brazilian Socialist Party, to run her campaign. In contrast, the winning candidate, current Vice-President Hamilton Mourão, had more than BRL 4.2 million to spend. Mr. Mourão won the Senate seat for the Republicans party with 44.11 percent of the vote, beating the polls’ favorite, Olívio Dutra from the Workers’ Party (who was given a campaign budget BRL 2.5 million), by more than six points.

Despite making up the majority of Brazilian society, women and non-white people have historically been the minority in the country’s circles of legislative and executive power. One of the reasons for this lies in campaign funding, with black, multi-racial, and female candidates receiving less than white males on average, despite the implementation of quota policies that seek to ensure fair distribution.

Data from this year’s election shows that a white male candidate for the House or Senate received an...