Part-time Uber driver Maxwell Frost becomes first Gen Z Congress member
Florida Democrat Maxwell Alejandro Frost, a 25-year-old part-time Uber driver, declared that “history was made tonight” when he became the first Generation Z member to win a seat in Congress.
“WE WON!!!! History was made tonight. We made history for Floridians, for Gen Z, and for everyone who believes we deserve a better future,” Frost said in a tweet on Tuesday night.
“I am beyond thankful for the opportunity to represent my home in the United States Congress,” he added.
Frost defeated Republican Calvin Wimbish — a 72-year-old former Army Green Beret who called himself a “Christian, conservative, constitutionalist” candidate for office — to represent the Orlando area in the Sunshine State’s 10th Congressional District.
Gen Z generally refers to people born between the late 1990s and early 2010s. To become a member of Congress, candidates must be at least 25 years old.
The gun reform and social justice activist ran in a heavily blue district being relinquished by Democratic Rep. Val Demings, who challenged GOP Sen. Marco Rubio this year.
In the run-up to his campaign for office, Frost served as the national organizing director for March for Our Lives, a group that seeks gun control.
On his website, Frost said he was adopted, did not finish college and has never held office.
Instead, he spent time volunteering in his community and speaking out about abortion rights and gun control — while driving for Uber to make ends meet.
“As a young man, I experienced police abuse firsthand and saw my community ravaged by gun violence,” Frost wrote on his website.
“And I’ve experienced how working people and people of color are unjustly marginalized and left behind in our society,” he added.
In August, he told Politico that he quit his driving gig to run for office.
“I drive Uber to pay my bills. It’s a sacrifice, to be honest,” he told the outlet. “But I’m doing it because I can’t imagine myself not doing anything but fixing the problems we have right now.”
After the shooting that left 21 people dead at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in May, Frost challenged Gov. Ron DeSantis over his views on guns.
In August, he told the New York Times that the reason why the issue of gun violence was so important to him was because he came from a generation “that has gone through more mass-shooting drills than fire drills.”
“This is something that my generation has had to face head-on: being scared to go to school, being scared to go to church, being scared to be in your community. That gives me a sense of urgency,” he told the paper.
The other Gen Z candidate on the ballot on Tuesday was Republican Karoline Leavitt, who lost in New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District, according to the Times.
“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 told the paper Tuesday night, adding that he views himself as “a small piece of a really big puzzle” composed of Gen Zers who are becoming more influential in many segments of society.
President Biden called Frost shortly after his victory and asked whether he had a birthday coming up before his swearing-in — as the president did between his own election to the Senate at age 29 and his inauguration at 30.
“I said no, he beat me on that one,” Frost told the Times, laughing, adding that he planned to take Biden up on an offer to meet with him in the White House.
With Post wires