It is an incredible honor to be named one of TIME’s 2022 Next Generation Leaders.

But the road to get here was far from glamorous.

I had to leave my job to take the leap of faith and run for office. I would Uber at night to make ends meet. When I was priced out of my apartment last October, I couch-surfed and even slept in my car on occasion until I found the next place.

So how did I get here? How did I become the Democratic nominee for FL-10 and just 18 days away from becoming the first member of my generation in Congress?

With the help of folks who refused to count me out: My family, my friends, my community, civil rights leaders who came before me, local leaders, and supporters like you - I can’t possibly list them all.

Devin Christopher for TIME

Being the first of a generation in an institutional body like Congress, it means something, right? It’s part of the story.

I didn’t run for Congress to be the first member of Gen Z elected, but it is a message for young people and everybody else out there: don’t count young people out.

If you look at the timeline of Gen Z, we’ve seen and experienced a lot of awful things during our upbringing. Mass shootings, racially-motivated police brutality, the destruction of our planet.

This is all we’ve known since childhood, but this isn’t the future we deserve. So why not have young people at the decision-making table to use their experiences and perspectives to build a better world for future generations?

I believe in fighting for a future we deserve. I know one Gen Z member of Congress isn’t going to solve everything. I know I’m not the voice for every single member of my generation, but I promise that I’ll bring the urgency our generation needs in Congress.

Thanks for believing in our movement,

Maxwell Frost