“Gen Z Isn’t Waiting”: Maxwell Frost, Congress’s Youngest Member, Gets a Bumpy Introduction to Washington

I really like him and am glad he is in Congress!! ~ V

Elected at 25 years old, Florida Democrat Frost is shepherding in a new generation to the halls of power. His first week on the job was defined by Republican dysfunction over Kevin McCarthy’s Speakership bid. “I’m pretty lost right now, but everyone is, right?” he told Vanity Fair of navigating this new era in the minority.

Shortly after 7 P.M. on January 3, down a cobblestone alley in the splashy Washington, DC, waterfront known as The Wharf, a steady pulse emanated from Union Stage. Inside was a raucous scene: strobing lights, high-top tables covered with empties, the stagnant smell of beer-soaked floors. A backlit white sign near the entrance read “Tonight: Swearing In Concert of Maxwell Alejandro Frost.” Inside, an eclectic crowd—half dressed like they’d just left meetings on Capitol Hill, the other half like ’90s teens—filled the dance floor.

I am too old for this shit.

~ One attendee near the bar quipped with a laugh as music thumped in the background.

Most people there were too old for this shit—and that is, in a sense, what the party was about. Elected when he was 25 years old, Frost is the first Gen Z member to win a seat in Congress. His arrival on Capitol Hill comes at a critical inflection point for House Democrats.

For the first time in two decades, Nancy Pelosi, who is in her 80s, is no longer the Democratic leader—New York representative Hakeem Jeffries, a 52-year-old Gen X’er, is. And despite his complicated record on progressive issues, Jeffries is ushering in a new generation of Democratic lawmakers, Frost among them.

It’s not like Gen Z has been waiting to get into Congress. We just got old enough. But the thing is that we just got old enough and we are already here. And I think that’s really the story: Gen Z isn’t waiting.

~ Congressman Frost

At that moment, though, Frost was waiting. There was no swearing in before his “Swearing In Concert.” Kevin McCarthy was still in the throes of negotiating enough votes to win the House speakership, so the 118th Congress was on hold, and all the members-elect were in political limbo. But the party went on. In a crisp, white wide-collar shirt with subtle polka dots and a navy suit, Frost made the rounds with ease.

He is, simply put, cool—“probably is the coolest member ever elected to Congress,” per Congressman Ruben Gallego of Arizona. A drummer, Frost cofounded an Orlando music festival before he ran for Congress. That night, he toggled seamlessly between the roles of a selfie-snapping politician and an emcee for the Brooklyn-based band Phony Ppl.