At 25 years old, Maxwell Frost got elected as the new Democratic congressman representing Florida’s 10th Congressional District. Son of Cuban immigrants, Frost made history as the first GenZ to win a seat in the US House of Representatives with 59% of the votes. Originally from Florida, the congressman worked as an Uber driver before beating Republican Calvin Wimbish.
At 15 years old, Frost was heavily involved in politics, acting as the national organizing director for March for Our Lives. “I started organizing at 15 because I didn’t want to get shot at school,” Frost stated in a tweet.
Frost’s campaign relied heavily on progressive causes, such as Medicare for All, stricter gun control legislation, criminal justice reform, and climate action. During the campaign, he was endorsed by Sens. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Ed Markey.
Shortly after winning the election, President Joe Biden called Frost to congratulate him. “I have no doubt he’s off to an incredible start in what I’m sure will be a long, distinguished career,” stated Biden in a White House press conference.
“Your voice will make a difference in Washington, and I’m very glad I’ll get to serve alongside you!,” said Senator Warren.
On Tuesday night, when Frost was projected to win the election, the 25-year-old tweeted, “WE WON!!!! History was made tonight. We made history for Floridians, GenZ, and everyone who believes we deserve a better future.”
What does Maxwell Frost’s win mean for GenZ?
Recent exit polls reveal that two-thirds of young voters backed Democratic candidates for seats in the House of Representatives. According to a recent Harvard Institute of Politics survey on priority causes for young voters, 22% of respondents said that gun control was either their most important or second most important issue. It is safe to say that Frost’s anti-gun-violence discourse heavily influenced the election’s outcomes.
Similarly to the 22% of young voters, gun control is my top priority. My freshman year of High School was spent in a public institution in the South of Florida. Fear of an active shooter was as natural and common as any other High School emotion, like getting butterflies when you see your crush or the burning desire to hear the lunch bell ring.
I witnessed students as young as me create one of the biggest anti-gun-violence organizations, March For Our Lives. I saw Gen-Zers pass gun control legislation that saved lives. Frost himself did it.
Representing GenZ, Frost could show that we are the generation that will bring to an end foundational and structural issues in the US from within political bodies.
To that end, yes. I believe that Frost could bring positive change to Gen-Zers in America.
But do other Gen-Zers feel the same way about Maxwell Frost?
Ana Luiza Andrade, a Journalism student at the University of South Florida, believes that Maxwell can bring positive change to Gen-Zers by “inciting change from the inside.”
Andrade appreciates that “Maxwell goes against the big Florida train of thought,” adding that the state remains a Republican area.
Following the midterm elections, Republican Ron DeSantis will serve as the new governor of Florida, elected with 59.4% of the votes.
The student highlights Frost’s background in the fight against drug abuse and addiction struggles.
On the Congressman’s website, he writes that his biological mother was a victim of the system, “getting caught in a cycle of drugs, crime, and violence while pregnant.” Due to a lack of healthcare resources, the mother of 7 had no other option but to put Maxwell Frost up for adoption.
“He has lived it with his mom, he knows what is missing from these groups that are so neglected in society,” noted Andrade.
Frost stated that he is committed to ensuring that every person in America has comprehensive healthcare with no co-pays, deductibles, or premiums. “We must abolish the illness industry,” wrote the congressman.
22-year-old Kevin Trejos, a survivor of the deadly 2018 Parkland High School shooting and former University of Florida student, told The Pavlovic Today that he had known Maxwell Frost since 2018 when they worked together on the March For Our Lives: Road to Change advocacy tour around the country.
For him, Frost’s election to Congress is “incredibly important for our generation because it means we will finally have a voice in a Congress that has been getting older and whose leadership has been getting older and more out of touch with younger people over the past 10 years.”
According to Insider Data Senior Editor Walt Hickey, Congress has become increasingly older. “Half of the country is under the age of 38, only about 5% of Congress is,” said Hickey.
“Throughout Rep.-Elect Frost’s campaign, he showed voters and young people that he is truly a normal person who cares and is in touch with the everyday person. In the end, what it really will mean to young people is that Congress now feels much more accessible, much more representative of us, and hopefully has a brighter future in becoming a legislative body that truly represents the diversity of our lovely country,” stated Trejos.
Isabela Iiams, an International Relations student at American University, argues that Frost’s election is crucial to GenZ since “he will be making decisions that will impact him and our generation,” adding that “people in Congress are so old they will not live to experience the consequences of their politics. That will not be the case with Frost.”
The verdict is in, Maxwell Frost, according to Gen Z is a promising candidate.
I believe that Frost has something that other politicians do not, something precious, priceless – time. At the young age of 25 years old, he already has enough power to influence the course of politics in America, voting on legislation that has the potential to save lives.
I am hopeful that he will keep on growing while building a better America for Gen-Zers, as well as society overall.
