History was made during this midterm election in Florida with the election of the first Generation Z candidate into Congress. Maxwell Frost, a Democrat of only 25 years of age, took the victory over Republican candidate Calvin Wimbish by 19 percentage points. This is due in part to a massive representation of 18 year olds making it out to the polls and involving themselves in their local politics. This is also an impressive feat as 20 of the seats were won by Republican party members, leaving Frost as one of only eight Democrats elected in Florida.
Even before running for Congress, Frost has been a major voice against gun violence, an activist, and political leader since he was only 15 years old. His resume also includes serving as the national organizing director for March for Our Lives. Along with his advocating for gun control, Frost is a supporter of Medicare for all and a Green New Deal. When speaking with PBS, Frost illuminates, “we know that Gen Z and Millennials make up about a third of the country. We don’t represent anywhere near a third of the government. And I think it’s important that we have young people at the table.” He also continues to say that the government “needs to be more diverse, right, in age, in race, in gender, in economic status and experience,” of which his election is only a small part. It is, most importantly, an integral stepping stone for other young political activists that have similar aspirations of entering the US Government in order to create the change they are aiming for in America.
When he is sworn in to Congress in January, he will be the youngest by a long shot, with the average age of Congress being 59. Frost will be the first of a new generation of leaders, and there are high hopes for the change he will hopefully be able to bring about. He plans on focusing first and foremost on the affordable housing crisis in Central Florida, and continues to say that he “wants people to have the resources they need to tap into the great opportunity this country has.”
The election of younger leaders will allow better representation of the values and ideas that the younger generations in America care about and want to see brought to light. This is just the beginning of more political engagement from Gen Z, and an important change for the US Congress.