Maxwell Frost: Florida Democrat, 25, becomes first Gen-Z member of Congress

‘History was made tonight’

Generation Z now has a seat in Congress with the victory of Democrat candidate Maxwell Alejandro Frost who won in Florida's 10th congressional district.

The 25-year-old Afro-Cuban gun reform activist defeated Republican Calvin Wimbish by 19 percentage points in the largely liberal Orlando-area seat, according to the Associated Press.

Mr Frost will succeed outgoing Democratic representative Val Demings, who was a nominee for senator.

"WE WON! History was made tonight," Mr Frost tweeted within minutes of his projected win. "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 US congress," he added.

His victory mark's a pivotal moment for the US congress with one guaranteed member from Generation Z, whose oldest members were born in 1997.

Congress requires the candidates to be at least 25 years of age to become a member. The House is largely dominated by the generation of ”baby boomers” with only six per cent of millennials occupying the seats.

Mr Frost is among six newcomers to the US House of Representatives in Tuesday's vote from Florida as Republicans sought to take advantage of an aggressively redrawn congressional map spearheaded by governor Ron DeSantis.

The Democrat-elect had famously confronted the governor in June about gun violence, to which Mr DeSantis responded by saying “nobody wants to hear from you”.

But it seems people did want to hear from the progressive young Democrat.

“Running to be the first Gen Z member of Congress isn’t the first reason I ran but that is an important part of the story,” he told The Independent after his primary victory.

“I just represent a different type of candidate,” he said. “This shows we need the country not to count people out.”

Mr Frost said to make ends meet during the campaign, he worked as an Uber driver and has yet to finish college.

He began his activism after the mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012.

Mr Frost then went on to serve as the national organising director for March for Our Lives, a gun control advocacy group that formed in the wake of the shooting at Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida in 2018.

Two years later, the progressive Democrat worked for the American Civil Liberties Union and Senator Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign.

“A lot of times, movements, you don’t see the fruits of the movement right away,” he said.

“You are talking about a whole new generation. We’ve just gotten old enough to vote. A movement will spark a seed that takes time to grow and that’s OK.”