Today, Florida District 10 voters elected 25-year-old Maxwell Alejandro Frost as their U.S. House Representative.
Former Orlando Police Chief Val Demings currently represents the district, serving since 2017. Demings did not pursue reelection in order to run against Marco Rubio for the U.S. Senate.
District 10 is largely Democratic, having voted for President Joe Biden by 25 percentage points in 2020.
Frost’s win marks him as the first member of Generation Z to enter Congress. Throughout the campaign cycle, Frost has embraced this title, writing on Twitter, “My name is Maxwell Alejandro Frost and I will be the first Generation-Z member of Congress. Don’t count out young people.”
Born of Afro-Cuban descent, Frost was adopted as an infant. He grew up in Orlando, Florida, and is currently a student at Valencia College. Additionally, Frost drives for Uber.
Maxwell Frost’s activist journey began shortly after the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting. He attended the national vigil and met the sibling of one of the victims. “Seeing a 16-year old… crying over his sister, who was murdered for just going to school, changed my life forever,” Frost said. Over the next couple of years, he joined the ACLU and became the national organizing director of March for Our Lives.
Frost’s decision to run for Congress came shortly after meeting his biological mother. “After I hung up, I said ‘I’m running for Congress,’ for people like my biological mother, for people like my mother who came here from Cuba, for my community, and for the victims of gun violence that I want to honor,” Frost told the Florida Political Review.
Endorsed by U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, Frost ran a campaign prioritizing global warming, Medicare For All, reducing gun violence and affordable housing. Want to learn more about Frost? A Florida Political Review Q&A with the Representative can be found here.
Check out other recent articles from the Florida Political Review here.
Featured image: Florida Political Review Florida House race graphic depicting Maxwell Frost. Image by Maria Varas.
