New data reveals a substantial racial gap between voters and politicians in Brazil despite minimal politicized racial cleavages.

🗳️ Voter-Elite Divide: The disparity persists due to deference toward white candidates rather than strong political divisions along race lines. Party leaders and candidate selection barriers do not appear significant factors driving this representation gap.

💰 Financial Inequality: Instead, evidence highlights persistent resource disparities between white and nonwhite politicians—large gaps in personal assets and campaign contributions.

🧩 Elite Power Mechanism: These findings demonstrate how investments by racial and economic elites sustain a 'white political class,' even absent overtly racialized politics. This mechanism contributes significantly to the literature on elite power, challenging our understanding of representation persistence.