On 1985, Vanessa Grazziotin graduated in the Pharmacy College of the Federal University of Amazonas.[2] She has been a member of the Communist Party of Brazil (PC do B) since 1980, when the party was still illegal.[2] Through PC do B, she was a councilwoman for Manaus for nine straight years, from 1989 to 1998, when she successfully ran for a seat in the Chamber of Deputies.[2] She was re-elected twice, in 2002 and 2006.[2] In 2004, she unsuccessfully ran for Mayor of Manaus, finishing the race in third place.[2]
Among her proposals in the Chamber were the creation of a Green Seal for goods manufactured on the Manaus Free Trade Zone, the prohibition of the distribution of plastic bags, and the creation of the Day of African and Amerindian Culture (to be celebrated on May 13).[3] The latter project was approved by the National Congress on March 30, 2010.[3]
In 2010, Grazziotin ran for a seat in the Federal Senate. She was elected with 662,729 votes (22.8% of the total).[4] Her election was rather impressive, once she defeated Arthur Virgílio, a prominent Senator from the Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB). Virgílio accused Grazziotin of buying votes, the reason why he was called a "bad loser" by newsmagazine Istoé.[5] Grazziotin claims she acted according to the Public Ministry guidelines.[5]
On May 2, 2016, the Regional Electoral State Attorney presented a motion to the Superior Electoral Court in order to abrogate her Senate mandate for crimes against the Election Law regulations (money abuse during campaign).
