Eduardo Gomes

Carlos Eduardo Torres Gomes, also known as Eduardo Gomes, is a Brazilian businessman and politician affiliated with the Liberal Party (PL) . He is currently serving his first term as a senator for the state of Tocantins.

Political Career

He began his career in public administration in 1986 when he served for two years as Municipal Secretary of Education and Culture of Xambioá . Following that, he was Municipal Secretary of Culture of Araguaína from 1988 to 1989, when he became chief of staff at the Legislative Assembly of Tocantins until 1996, from where he transferred in 1997 to the Municipal Secretariat of Articulation in Palmas.

In the 1996 elections, he was elected councilman for Palmas by the PPB , for the term of 1997 to 2001, but transferred to the PSB in 1997. In 1999, he joined the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) , for which he was re-elected in 2000 as councilman of the capital of Tocantins. Under this party, he was elected councilman for Palmas in the October 2000 elections. He became president of the legislative body, a position that temporarily led to his appointment as mayor of Palmas.

Elected federal deputy in 2002 with 37,251 votes, Eduardo Gomes assumed his first prominent role in the House of Representatives in 2005, occupying the position of third secretary of the Board of Directors, an unprecedented position for a politician from Tocantins. In 2006, he was re-elected with 33,664 votes and, throughout his two terms, established himself as one of the most influential parliamentarians in Brazil. Among his main achievements was the presidency of the House of Representatives' Committee on Science, Technology, Communication and Informatics.

In 2007, he assumed leadership of the PSDB within the Joint Budget Committee of the National Congress . He accepted the invitation of the then-president of the PSDB, Senator Sérgio Guerra, to participate in the political coordination of the party. In the same year, he was a member of the Mines and Energy Committee , as well as the Special Joint Committee on Climate Change of the National Congress , of which he was president. At the head of the Climate Change Committee, Gomes held hearings with local authorities and civil society organizations working in the environmental field. He also presented bills aimed at regulating the carbon market in the country, but the proposals were ultimately shelved by the House of Representatives.

In 2011 he was elected first secretary of the House of Representatives, a position he held until 2013. He ended his term in 2015, after a failed attempt to be elected senator for Tocantins in 2014, when he was defeated by a difference of 5,932 votes by Senator Kátia Abreu (PP) .

In July 2019, Gomes requested a leave of absence from his newly acquired position as senator to assume the role of Secretary of Government for the state of Tocantins, under Governor Mauro Carlesse (PP) . He remained in the position for only one month.

Performance in the National Congress

He is the author of a proposed constitutional amendment that includes the protection of personal data available in digital media in the list of individual guarantees of the Federal Constitution, approved in two rounds in the House.

The senator stands out for his advocacy for the regulation of new technologies, for fostering entrepreneurship, and for promoting greater transparency in public administration.

Among his main achievements, the following stand out:

• He is the author of Bill 1505/2022 , which establishes mechanisms to stimulate the development and strengthening of the Brazilian Economic and Industrial Health Complex within the scope of the National Policy for Technological Innovation in Health and provides other measures.

• He is the author of Bill 4201/2020 , which amends Law No. 9,504 of September 30, 1997 (Electoral Law), to authorize paid advertising through electronic banners on the Internet.

• He was the rapporteur for Bill 2338/2023 , which deals with the use of artificial intelligence.

Furthermore, the senator was the leader of the government of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in the National Congress.