Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet, an immigrant rights activist and executive director of the Hope CommUnity Center in Apopka, has filed paperwork to run for Florida House District 42 in Orlando as a Democrat.
The District 42 seat, representing a majority-Democrat stretch of Orlando, is currently held by progressive Florida Rep. Anna Eskamani, who is term-limited from seeking re-election to her seat in 2026.
Eskamani herself — who is running for Orlando mayor after her current term ends — told Orlando Weekly in a phone call Friday that Sousa-Lazaballet has her “full support” in his campaign. “I asked him if he would consider running, so this is incredibly exciting,” she shared, candidly.
Sousa-Lazaballet, a 38-year-old Brazilian immigrant, told Orlando Weekly that, although he’s fired up for his campaign today, he didn’t ever see himself running for office before Eskamani called him up last fall (beyond an offhand comment his mom says he mentioned as a toddler about becoming the president of Brazil one day).
“I was inspired by Anna’s path,” Sousa-Lazaballet explained. “I am a dreamer, both figuratively and also literally,” he quipped, as a former undocumented person who secured U.S. citizenship in 2021. “And part of being a dreamer is seeing what’s yet to come.”
As a former community organizer and advocate, Sousa-Lazaballet has experience building relationships with people. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, he also worked with the city of Orlando in helping the community recover from the 2016 Pulse nightclub mass shooting that killed 49 people, most of whom were people of color and LGBTQ+.
“I’ve had the opportunity to work with [Orlando] Mayor Buddy Dyer, which gave me a lot of new skills related to bringing people together in a time of crisis,” said Sousa-Lazaballet.
More recently, as executive director of the Hope CommUnity Center, a social services organization in Apopka, he’s also overseen budgets, management, and operations, all the while building relationships with other community organizations.
“I would not be in the business of social change if I didn’t believe social change is possible,” he shared. Back in 2010, as Sousa-Lazaballet (still undocumented at the time) embarked on a 1,500-mile walk from Miami to Washington, D.C. — the “Trail of Dreams” — to demand humane immigration reform, he recalled meeting people from all walks of life, including people with anti-immigrant views.
“What I have learned was that once we humanize our experiences, we can change hearts and minds,” he said. “We have to see through what makes us different to find what makes us the same.”
As a Florida lawmaker, Sousa-Lazaballet immediately named the economy as a top issue he would prioritize, if elected, in addition to expanding access to healthcare, environmental issues, education, and promoting equality across the board.
“I have been very troubled, angry and mad about what’s happening in Tallahassee,” he admitted. “I really think that our leaders in Tallahassee are focusing on the wrong things, or focusing on culture wars, demonizing everyday people.”
Florida lawmakers just convened a special legislative session in which the state Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis approved sweeping laws targeting undocumented people in Florida, in line with anti-immigrant directives coming from the newly Republican-controlled White House.
Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature in recent years has also undermined rights for transgender people, and has gone after what they describe as “wokeness” — a catch-all term that they use to label comprehensive teaching of civil rights history as well as diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
“These attacks are just distractions,” Sousa-Lazaballet argued, “instead of focusing on what actually matters, which are the price of everyday goods, the fact that housing is so expensive — the things that matter to everyday Floridians.”
Eskamani said she believes Sousa-Lazaballet’s background would serve as an asset in the Florida Legislature, and feels confident that he would continue her efforts to be responsive to community needs and accessible to locals.
“At this time where the immigrant community is under attack and we are navigating chaos at the federal government, Felipe’s experience and knowledge as an immigrant himself and someone who’s navigated being undocumented, it just offers such an incredible perspective and expertise to this moment in our political climate.”
Sousa-Lazaballet is the first and only candidate so far to run for Eskamani’s seat in the Florida House, although more are likely to come. Florida’s 2026 primary election takes place Aug. 18, 2026. You can find a map of House District 42 here.
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This article appears in Feb 12-18, 2025.