Day 113: Florida Freedom Summer of 2024: Meet Generation Z’s Celebrity Politician

Maxwell Frost, 25 years old, plays the drums, but that hardly is what he is known for this year. Democrats are assured of one feel-good moment on election night next week, when Frost becomes the first GenZ member elected to the U.S. Congress.

The photo says much about who he is and who he represents.  Frost is a Afro-Cuban with a following of like-minded people his age who are old enough to vote—and to run for political office.  What he and GenZ bring to politics is an awareness and consciousness of issues of less direct personal concern to older people—in particular, climate change, gun violence, personal identification and control of their own bodies.

The public first met them in 2017, when survivors of the mass shooting at Parkland High School, in Florida, joined particularly with young people familiar with gun violence in Chicago, to create the national March for Our Lives, in Washington, D.C., and in major cities around the nation.

GenZ, the generation of zoomers, generally born between mid-1990s to the early 2010s, has been visible everywhere in 2022  particularly on campuses in protests,  Yesterday, on Nov. 1, 2022, young people spoke against approving Ben Sasse as the new president of the University of Florida.  The only public commentor supporting Sasse was an alum.  Outside, students matched in protest, and then listened respectfully to Dr. Paul Ortiz, history professor and director of the UF Oral History Project, explain why Dr. Sasse wasn’t qualified to be UF president.

Perhaps the clearest visible line between the generation in power and GenZ in my home state of Florida came during this exchange:

Frost confronted Florida Governor Ron DeSantis during an interview over gun violence within the state. Security ejected Frost, with DeSantis taunting,       "Nobody wants to hear from you." Frost then turned the Governor's words into a rallying cry for his supporters.  https://advocatechannel.com/florida-progressive-could-become-first-gen-z-member-of-congress

https://advocatechannel.com/florida-progressive-could-become-first-gen-z-member-of-congress

Frost won the Democratic primary in a black Congressional district previously represented by U.S. Rep. Val Demings (D-FL).  She chose to run for the U.S. Senate.  In the primary for her seat, Frost finished first, ahead of nine, including well-known present and past office holders. 

But that victory resulted in the emergence of an issue discomforting to those who would like to see the rebirth of the old coalition which constituted the base of the Democratic party for years, in the 1960s and 1970s, until 1980 when “Reagan Democrats” emerged among working class whites.

There is little sign that older blacks are willing to work with young politicians, even black ones.  Frost fortunately has been given the public support of black House majority whip, U.S. Rep. James Cliburn (D-S.C.)  Congressman Cliburn was credited with turning the presidential primary in President Joe Biden’s favor by endorsing him.

Front also has Latino support, most visibly recently from composer/lyricist Lin Manuel Miranda, the creator of the hit musical Hamilton.  Again, however, older Latinos, especially Cubans, still vote Republican in sufficient numbers to favor GOP candidates.

Republicans however don’t have to worry about Frost running for the U.S. Senate, until 2028 when he turns 30, or the U.S. presidency, until 3032, when he will be 35.  Still conservatives have reason for concern.

Frost precisely because of his youth, is being talked about as the next Obama, the next JFK , the next FDR.  His admirers have included young people who were more likely to care more about  Frank Sinatra, or Elvis  or the Beatles in prior generations. Will it be enough to convince GenZ to vote in greater numbes than earlier generations of young people when they were 18-25, now that they now have one of their own to address the issues?   Can Frost be persuaded to advocate for a Florida Freedom Summer of 2024, when he runs again for Congress in that year?

Gabriel Hillel