Maxwell Frost, a 25-year-old gun violence survivor, was elected to Florida’s 10th Congressional District on Tuesday night, making him the first Gen Z-er and first Afro-Cuban to serve in Congress. The historically blue House seat was previously held by Val Demings, who lost to Marco Rubio in the Senate race Tuesday night. Frost started working on gun reform activism in high school and was a national organizing director at March for Our Lives, the youth-led movement started in the wake of the Parkland school massacre. He told HuffPost recently that he was initially reluctant when local organizers urged him to run, partly due to “internalized ageism,” but was inspired to after connecting with his birth mother, who gave him up for adoption as she battled addiction with no access to health care. “TODAY, GEN-Z IS GOING TO CONGRESS BAYBEEEE,” he tweeted Tuesday. “... We made history for Floridians, for Gen Z, and for everyone who believes we deserve a better future...”
