Maxwell Frost, a gun control activist, just won the Democratic primary to be the congressman in Florida’s 10th congressional district. In November he will go up against Republican Galvin Wimbish. With the district he’s running in being heavily democratic, there’s a good chance that he could win the election and become the first Gen Z congressman. Gen Z includes everyone born in 1997-2012, so anyone from 10-25 years old. While Gen Z is still young, they’re slowly growing up and they are ready to get involved in politics, with statistics showing that young people are more likely to vote than older generations. Maxwell Frost is the start of a new generation of people ready to get into politics.

Frost was raised by immigrants that moved from Cuba in the 1960s, witnessing first-hand how working-class people struggled. He first got involved in activism, following the Sandy Hook shooting. He became a March For Our Lives organizer and ACLU activist, speaking out publicly about his own experience with surviving gun violence. He has helped establish violence prevention programs. As an activist, he worked to pass amendment 4, an amendment that allowed people who had previous felony convictions to vote. He’s mainly been working on reaching out to the working class, people of colour, and young people. Maxwell Frost is a progressive candidate, with his main goals being ending gun violence, medicare for all, reforming the criminal system, solving the housing crisis, and tackling climate change.

As for being the first Gen Z member of congress, Maxwell Frost says he will not be intimidated into “straightening up” around more experienced politicians. He said in an interview “You’re gonna see me at concerts…You’re gonna see me drumming. You’re gonna see me dancing…We’ve been conditioned to think politicians behave a certain way”. His plan is to be open and let the people know what the political process is like. Maxwell Frost’s message has been reaching young people. He led a voter turnout which led to young people voting in record numbers.In an NBC interview he said,“I think this win shows the country: Don’t count us out. Don’t count out young people,”. While he’s the first potential Gen Z congressman he doesn’t want to be the last, and he’s been encouraging more young people to run for national office. If Maxwell Frost becomes the first Gen Z member congressman it wouldn’t just be a political win, it would symbolize the start of Gen Z making themselves heard.