This week I will be talking about a very new politician on the scene: Democratic Representative Maxwell Frost, who represents the 10th Congressional District in Florida, which covers most of the city of Orlando. I want to tell you about him because he has the potential to be very important to us students. He is 26 years old and thus part of Generation Z, making him the first “Gen Z” member of Congress. He is the first person from our generation to be in the House of Representatives. He is the first of the new generation of politicians getting ready to take the torch from the old guard. 

Frost got elected in last November’s midterms and took the seat of Democrat Val Demmings, who retired to run against Republican Marco Rubio for Florida Senate. Frost is a child of a Puerto Rican/Lebanese mother and a Haitian father. He is a member of the Democratic Party and is part of the more progressive wing of the party. He is an excellent representation of Gen Z in having diverse parents and being a child of immigrants. School shootings like Columbine and Sandy Hook happened while he was in school, for reference.

One of the most significant issues Frost fights for is gun control, one of the issues that is very important for Gen Z as we grew up with these incidents happening in schools. I still remember when Parkland happened, and I remember participating in a school walkout to protest and fight for gun control. Frost also cares a lot about fighting against climate change, another issue our generation has to deal with. Guns and Climate change, his two major issues, are very important for Gen Z. 

Before he got elected, Frost had done some stuff for politics. He had volunteered for Obama’s campaign in 2012 and worked with a group called Newtown Action Alliance, which was created in response to the Sandy Hook shooting. 

Frost is the first politician of this new generation that has lived through school shootings. A generation that is fighting to keep our planet alive. A generation that lived through Occupy Wall street, BLM, Covid, and so many mass shootings. He is a part of the first generation that can legally marry someone who is the same gender and a generation that wants you to love who you want. I am very excited to see what kind of new energy and ideas he can bring to the halls of Congress.