Who is the Gen Z congressman from Florida speaking at the DNC?
U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, the 27-year-old Democratic rising star, is set to take the stage at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Thursday night, speaking just hours before Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepts her party’s presidential nomination.
The appearance is likely to help cement Frost’s place as an up-and-comer in Democratic politics. Since he was elected in 2022 to represent an Orlando-area congressional district, Frost has emerged as a key voice among young progressives. He’s already made history as the first member of Gen Z to win a seat in Congress, and has sought to push his party on issues like gun control and securing a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
As the youngest member of Congress, Frost’s appearance on the final night of the DNC seems fitting. Convention organizers have dubbed the theme of the night “For Our Future,” and Frost said that he plans to use his speech to champion Harris and her running mate Tim Walz as “the best choice if we want to save our planet from the climate crisis.”
“The climate crisis is here, and Floridians know that our state is ground zero,” Frost said in a statement. “We must elect Kamala Harris as the President of the United States for our people, our democracy, and our planet.”
A former progressive organizer, Frost has also carved out a role in the national political scene as one of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ chief Democratic critics. Speaking on the sidelines of the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, Frost pointed to his home state as a cautionary tale for what the rest of the country would look like if Donald Trump wins the presidency in November.
What Trump wants to do nationwide, Frost said, is what DeSantis has been doing for years in Florida, mentioning the mass removal of certain books from public school libraries as an example.
“That’s what’s going on in my state,” Frost said during an appearance at the CNN-Politico Grill. “I don’t want it to go on in the whole country.”
This story was originally published August 22, 2024 at 2:09 PM.