Information reaching Kossyderrickent has it that Twitter users discover that Maxwell Frost, the first Gen Z member of Congress, is a fan of Ariana Grande and Harry Styles. (Read More Here).
This is what a win sounds like for Democrat Maxwell Frost, who – at 25 – is the US Congress’ first representative of Generation Z. (Read More Here).
Within minutes of the projected win, his celebration on Twitter was gathering rampant endorsement.
For starters, his presence in the House of Representatives stands to lower Congress’ median age – the highest in two decades – by quite a lot. Baby boomers dominate and millennials represent barely 6% of the body.
“I am more than thankful for the opportunity to represent my home in the United States Congress,” Mr Frost wrote.
His win was not unexpected – after all he ran in Florida’s reliably liberal 10th district.
And his campaign focused on the issues Democrats believe appeal to young voters – gun violence, climate change, abortion rights and expanded healthcare.
Four days before the midterm elections, Maxwell Alejandro Frost explained that he became an organiser (remember that word – that’s how a certain Barack Obama began his political career) because he “did not want to be shot at school”.
He became an activist after the mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012.
In the run-up to his congressional campaign, Mr Frost served as the national organising director for March for Our Lives – a group that seeks gun control.
After the shooting that left 21 people dead at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on 24 May, Mr Frost challenged Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis over his views on weapons.
He told the New York Times in August that the reason why the issue of gun violence was so important to him was because he came from a generation “that has gone through more mass-shooting drills than fire drills”.
“That gives me a sense of urgency.”
The oldest members of Gen Z were born in 1997 – and only now have they been eligible to run (you have to be 25 to stand for the House).
And whilst it remains unusual to get elected at that age, Mr Frost is not the first.
In 2020, Republican Madison Cawthorn (who was born in 1995) had that honour when he won in North Carolina – but that was after a hiatus of some 45 years. Mr Cawthorn, however, did not last long – he was voted out in the primaries earlier this year, following a string of scandals.
While age could have been an inhibitor, the 25-year-old, buoyed by nationwide progressive support, overcame the Democratic establishment. Filling in the seat formerly held by Congresswoman Val Demings, Frost emerged from a crowded primary field of nine other candidates including former Florida representatives Alan Grayson and Corrine Brown, and state Senator Randolph Bracy.
Frost enjoyed support from members of congress including Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Jamie Raskin, and figures such as Reverend Jesse Jackson and gun violence activist Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter was killed in the Parkland shooting.
Frost, a part-time Uber driver, put forth an unapologetically progressive platform. Some of his focus was on big-ticket items including Medicare-for-All, the Green New Deal, and banning assault weapons. Frost also put out targeted proposals including the Homes for All Act, which would direct the construction of 12 million new affordable housing units, and putting an end to a rule that gives 80 percent of transportation funding to highways and only 20 percent to transit.
Unlike many candidates, Frost didn’t know politics would be a part of his future, until supporters that he protested with during the Black Lives Matter uprising in 2020 asked him to get on the ballot.
A phone call with his biological mother gave him the final push he needed to run for office, he told Yahoo News in August. “I hung up the phone, and I said I need to run for Congress for people like my biological mother, for people like my mother, for people like my father, for my community, for the place that I was born and raised,” he said.
In August of 2021, Frost quit his job as the national organizing director of March for Our Lives and started his campaign. Now, he is headed to Washington, D.C., after beating Republican opponent Calvin Wimbish.
“My mom came here from Cuba when she was young with nothing. And now her son is going to go to Congress,” Frost told Yahoo News in August.
In a statement on Friday, Demings expressed her support for Frost. “I’m proud to support Maxwell Alejandro Frost for Congress because he’s going to continue to fight to end gun violence, take on our housing crisis, bring down rising costs, and continue to be the bold leader Central Florida needs in D.C.”
Ahead of Election Day, Frost was confident about his race but said that other contests throughout the Sunshine State were getting too close for comfort.
“Turnout is relatively low right now, actually, in general. And we have a lot of work to do on making sure that [it’s] better in future elections,” Frost told Yahoo News on Monday.
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