'We made history': Maxwell Frost elected as the first Gen Z member of Congress

by Aysha Qamar

Daily Kos Staff

Thursday, Nov. 10, 2022 Thursday, Nov. 10, 2022 at 11:09:59am PST

Maxwell Frost, a Democratic candidate for Florida's 10th Congressional district, participates in the Pride Parade in Orlando, Florida, on October 15, 2022. - Running in a Florida district generally won by his party, his path to the House of Representatives seems all mapped out during the mid-term elections in November. He would become the first member of 'Generation Z' today's teens and young adults to serve in Congress. The young African-American, raised by an adoptive mother of Cuban origin, would stand out among the white faces and gray hair that populate the US Congress - in the lower house, the average age is 58 years. (Photo by Giorgio VIERA / AFP) (Photo by GIORGIO VIERA/AFP via Getty Images)

From social media to activism, Gen Z has been taking the political world by storm. Now Gen Z has made history with activist Maxwell Alejandro Frost becoming the first member of Gen Z to be elected to Congress. A former March for Our Lives and ACLU activist, 25-year-old Frost won his election bid against Republican Army veteran Calvin Wimbish to represent Florida's 10th Congressional District. With more than 98% ballots counted, Frost received more than 58% of votes.

“The perspective I bring as a young person, as a young Black person, as a young Black Latino person from the South, is important,” Frost said in an interview with The New York Times.

This year's midterms mark the first election in which Gen Z members can run for congressional office. Frost is the exact age permissible by the Constitution to hold a seat. According to the Pew Research Center, anyone born between 1997 and 2012 is considered to be Gen Z.

"WE WON!!!! History was made tonight," Frost wrote on Twitter Tuesday night. "We made history for Floridians, for Gen Z, and for everyone who believes we deserve a better future."

WE WON!!!! History was made tonight. We made history for Floridians, for Gen Z, and for everyone who believes we deserve a better future. I am beyond thankful for the opportunity to represent my home in the United States Congress. #FL10
— Maxwell Alejandro Frost (@MaxwellFrostFL) November 9, 2022

Endorsed by big progressives like Sens. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and the Confessional Progressive Caucus, Frost won his August primary in a crowded 10-candidate race of more experienced Democrats.

According to NPR, Frost first became an activist after the mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012. Before running for Congress, he served as the national organizing director for March for Our Lives, a group that advocates for gun control policy.

He even confronted Florida's Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis at an event over the governor's Second Amendment views after the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

I started Organizing at 15 because I didn’t want to get shot at school. https://t.co/skaG2PGN6Z
— Maxwell Alejandro Frost (@MaxwellFrostFL) November 5, 2022

Frost wasn’t the only Gen Z candidate for Congress this fall. Former Trump press staffer Karoline Leavitt, also 25, won the Republican primary in New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District but lost the midterm to incumbent Democrat Chris Pappas.

We must get out the Democratic vote for Senator Raphael Warnock in the December runoff. Write heartfelt, personalized letters to Georgia voters with Vote Forward to turn them out again.