The lead said the U.S. House of Representatives. It is not. Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet, 40, born in Duque de Caxias, is on the 3 November ballot for the Florida House of Representatives, District 42, Orlando. That is the state legislature, in Tallahassee, not Congress in Washington. The Florida Division of Elections has him qualified, Democrat. His opponent: Bonnie Jackson, Republican. The 18 August Democratic primary was cancelled — no challenger. If he wins, he would be the first Brazilian elected to Florida’s legislature. That is the stake. Not a seat on Capitol Hill.

He came in 2001, at 14, on a tourist visa, brought by an older sister already in Florida. His mother, from Ceará, was a domestic worker, on her own. The visa expired. At 16 a school counsellor told him that, without papers, university was off. He lived 15 years without status. On 1 January 2010 he started the Trail of Dreams: 1,500 miles, Miami to Washington, five months, with other young people brought before 18, for the legalisation of “dreamers.” He worked five years at Orlando City Hall under Buddy Dyer, including after the Pulse massacre. Then Hope CommUnity Center, Apopka, executive director, a $3.8 million budget, more than 30 staff. Green card, citizenship in 2021. He is married to Luis Sousa-Lazaballet.

The seat is Anna Eskamani’s, four two-year terms, the local cap. Daughter of Iranian immigrants, born in the U.S., she is out and running for Orlando mayor. She asked Felipe to run in her place. Orlando Weekly, in 2025: full support. Felipe said he had not had a race in mind until she called. District 42 is a majority-Democratic stretch of Orlando. It is not a miracle if a Democrat holds it. It is a change of biography.

Folha spoke to him a month before the midterms. His mother, he said, taught him education, hard work, honesty. His story, Eskamani said, speaks for itself. Ballotpedia: he does not see the seat as a step to Congress or governor. He wants District 42. That is a campaign line, not a prophecy.

Florida is a state Republicans hold in Tallahassee. An openly gay Democrat, once without papers, Brazilian, in an Orlando district, does not flip the state House. It changes, if it changes, one seat. Jackson is on the ballot. 3 November decides, not the profile.

The title “deputy in the U.S.” is true only if you say which chamber. Here it is Florida’s. The rest — the American dream, the 2010 walk, Pulse, citizenship in 2021 — is the road to the ballot. It is not a seat won.

Image: Riis2602, the Florida State Capitol, Tallahassee, 27 June 2022, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The photograph shows the state legislature, not the U.S. House.

Sources consulted: Ex-imigrante em situação irregular, brasileiro concorre a deputado nos EUA — Folha; Felipe Sousa Lazaballet — Ballotpedia.