Who is Manuela d'Ávila?
Manuela d'Ávila, a journalist born in Porto Alegre in 1981, joined the PCdoB in 2001 and was elected city councillor of Porto Alegre in 2004, federal deputy in 2006 and again in 2010 and state deputy in 2014. In 2018 she was the vice-presidential candidate on Fernando Haddad's ticket. She lost three Porto Alegre mayoral races, in 2008, 2012 and 2020. She left the PCdoB in 2025 and joined PSOL, which the party announced on 29 November 2025. Running for the Senate on the PSOL and Rede federation ticket, she placed third among 13 candidates on 4 October 2026 with 1,957,697 votes, or 17.07 percent. Sanderson (PL) and Marcel van Hattem (Novo) won the two seats.
Previously: Vice-presidential candidate on Fernando Haddad's PT ticket (2018) · State deputy in Rio Grande do Sul (elected 2014) · Federal deputy for Rio Grande do Sul (2007-2015) · City councillor of Porto Alegre (2005-2008)
Documented positions
- In June 2018 she said abortion is a public health issue and that Brazil should treat it urgently, noting the deaths of poor and Black women in clandestine procedures.Source: vermelho.org.br
- In June 2026 she criticised the Senate for overturning a Conanda rule on care for child victims of sexual violence, which she said makes legal abortion harder for raped girls.Source: portaltela.com
- In 2018 she described Temer's labour reform and the spending-cap amendment as part of an ultraconservative neoliberal project that destroys the state.Source: vermelho.org.br
- At her May 2026 Senate launch she listed the public health system SUS, daycare, support for single mothers, science, racial equality, peace and national sovereignty as her causes.Source: poder360.com.br
- In September 2026 she said she wants to ban betting-company advertising in Brazil and to expand policies for women who are victims of violence.Source: jornaldocomercio.com
- She said she joined PSOL for its commitment to structural change and to unite the left against the far right.Source: cnnbrasil.com.br
Record
Manuela d'Ávila was the youngest city councillor in Porto Alegre's history at 23 and, in the Chamber of Deputies, chaired the Human Rights and Minorities Committee in 2011 and 2012 and led the PCdoB caucus from 2013. The Câmara's profile lists committee work on the internet civil rights framework, the metropolitan statute and the Pelé Law rather than authored bills. She lost all three of her Porto Alegre mayoral races and, in 2026, was not elected to the Senate, trailing the second-placed winner by about 13 points.
Supporters such as PSOL president Paula Coradi called her the party's hope for renewal in the Senate. Critics, some of them on the left, faulted her boxing-themed Senate launch, according to Congresso em Foco.






