“Central Florida, my name is Maxwell Alejandro Frost and I will be the first Generation Z member of the United States Congress!” Frost announced to supporters in Orlando after the game was called Tuesday night, NBC News reports. Frost defeated Republican Calvin Wibis, 72, a retired Army Green Beret and conservative activist. The House seat was vacated by Democratic Rep. Val Demings during her unsuccessful campaign to unseat Republican Sen. Marco Rubio. Frost has worked as a lead organizer for March for Our Lives, the anti-gun violence group formed in response to the 2018 Parkland school shooting, and the American Civil Liberties Union. He focused his campaign on issues particularly important to young voters: ending gun violence, addressing climate change, protecting abortion rights and supporting Medicare for all. He quit his previous job to run for Congress and drove for Uber to pay rent while on the campaign trail. He has not finished college and has focused on community organizing during his adolescence and early adulthood. Frost says his activism was shaped as early as elementary school, when he learned about wealth inequality during the 2011 Occupy Wall Street movement. He is passionate about gun reform, often referring to Gen Z as the “generation of school shooters.” Frost has worked as an anti-gun violence activist since the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012 and is vocal about being a survivor of a separate incident of gun violence. The 2022 midterm elections were the first time members of Gen Z could run for Congress, which the Pew Research Center defines as people born between 1997 and 2012. Candidates must be 25 years old to serve in US House, 30 to serve in the US Senate, and 35 to be president. Still, 25-year-olds don’t often run in congressional races, let alone win. In 2020, Representative Madison Cawthorn, who was 25 at the time, was elected to represent North Carolina and served one term. and before that, the last 25-year-old to serve in the House was Thomas Downey, a New York Democrat who was elected in 1974, The New York Times reports. Frost will be much younger than most of his peers. the average age of members of the House is 58. More than half of Americans are millennials or younger, but there is no generational representation in the US Congress — the current membership is the oldest in history, Insider reports. Although the US Congress heavily skews older, white, and male, it is slowly becoming more diverse by race, ethnicity, gender, and age. Frost will be the only Afro-Cuban member of Congress. Frost won his primary in August in a crowded race of 10 more experienced Democratic candidates, helped by high-profile endorsements from progressive leaders including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash.; and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. Frost wasn’t the only Gen Z candidate for Congress this fall. Former Trump press secretary Caroline Levitt, 25, won the Republican primary in New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District. He ran on a platform as a staunch conservative, political outsider, and has denied the results of the 2020 presidential election, despite the fact that there is no evidence of widespread fraud. Leavitt lost the midterms to incumbent Democrat Chris Pappas, 42. Want to earn more and work less? Register for the free CNBC Make It: Your Money virtual event on December 13 at 12 p.m. ET to learn from money gurus like Kevin O’Leary how you can increase your profitability. Checkout: How Gen Z is rewriting dating, marriage and family plans for their 20s 86% of Gen Z interns believe a recession is coming—and it’s changing how they approach their careers Rejecting $300,000 Job, Postponing Austin Dreams: How Roe’s End Is Changing Millennials’ Career Plans and Lives
