Maxwell Frost makes history in Florida as first member of Generation Z elected to Congress
Maxwell, 25, easily won his bid for Florida’s 10th congressional district.
Maxwell Frost has made history as the first member of Generation Z to be elected to Congress, according to election poll data from The Associated Press.
Maxwell, 25, handily won his bid for Florida’s 10th congressional district. Democratic U.S. Rep. Val Demings currently occupies the seat, but did not seek reelection. Instead, she is running for U.S. Senate against Republican Marco Rubio.
Before jumping into the race for Congress, Frost was a young organizer and protester. In a sit-down interview with theGrio, Frost said his campaign was launched on four major issues: gun violence, public safety-criminal justice, climate change and affordable housing in his district.
Speaking about the significance of his place in Congress, Frost said, “Gen Z makes up a third of the country but has almost no representation in state, local government and at the federal level.”
He added, “We get this is urgent; we get that we lose 100 people a day due to gun violence. We are the generation that has been through more school shooting drills than fire drills when we were in high school and middle school.”
Frost, who is Afro-Latino, has also been a vocal critic of Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has signed into law bans on discussions of race and LGBTQ+ identity in school classrooms. He told theGrio that DeSantis, who is rumored to have 2024 presidential aspirations, has “scapegoated all the vulnerable communities.”
“Instead of passing bills to bring down rising costs, instead of passing bills that actually protect poor and working-class families … our governor is more interested in running for president than running the state and marginalized communities,” said Frost.
“He’s a fascist dictator, essentially, who has done everything he wants to do on the state level to [have] a complete hold on the Republican Party in the state legislature. And we need leaders who are going to call that out.”
Frost said despite the fact that Florida often gets a bad rap for its governor, the Sunshine State has so much more to offer.
“I think oftentimes people think about Ron DeSantis and they blanket our entire state like that. But come to Florida, right? Come to Orlando, go to Miami, go see the vibrant culture and the diversity that’s here. It’s incredible,” said Frost.
Frost views himself as a prime example of Florida’s diversity. “As someone who is Black and Latino, I’ve had the privilege of really getting to dive deep into many different cultures … I just think it’s important that we continue to push that and really shine a light on the beauty that’s here in Florida and the beauty that’s here in central Florida.”
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