3 Things To Know About New Gen Z Member of Congress Maxwell Frost
Activist Maxwell Alejandro Frost, 25, made history on election night when he became the first member of Generation Z elected to Congress.
Congressman-elect Frost, a progressive, won the open Florida 10th Congressional District seat of fellow Democrat Rep. Val Demings, who lost her U.S. Senate bid against GOP rival Sen. Marco Rubio.
Frost received more than 58 percent of the vote in the heavily Democratic district in the Orlando area, USA Today reported, defeating Republican opponent Calvin Wimbish, an Army veteran. This marked the first election in which Frost’s generation, born between 1997 and 2012, is old enough to run for Congressional office.
Here are three things to know about the nation’s youngest congressional lawmaker.
Started activism at 15
Frost became an activist in 2012 after the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., NPR reported. His decade of activism includes serving as the national organizing director for March for Our Lives, which advocates for gun control policies.
High-profile support
Frost earned a big thumbs-up from progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt- I) in his run for Congress.
“I'm proud to endorse Maxwell Frost to represent the people of Florida's 10th Congressional District,” Sanders wrote. “As a community organizer, Maxwell understands that working people desperately need leaders in Congress who will stand up to powerful special interests.”
Cuban roots
Frost’s grandmother and mother migrated to Florida from Cuba in the early 1960s during the Freedom Flights, according to his campaign website. They arrived with a suitcase and no money. His grandmother found work in Miami factories, where Frost said she was “exploited and was forced to accept harsh working conditions in order to make a life for her family.”
