“Maxwell Alejandro Frost Wants to Be a New Type of Congressman”

John, it is an incredible honor to be on the cover of this month’s issue of Teen Vogue as Gen Z’s first member elected to Congress.

But the road to get here was far from glamorous, especially when you’re not the “archetype” of who we typically see in our Congressional representatives.

So how did I get here? How did I – a working class, Afro-Cuban community organizer – become the first member of my generation to serve 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, John.

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

Kendall Bessent for Teen Vogue

If you look at the timeline of Gen Z, we’ve seen and experienced a lot of awful things happen 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?

Look, I know one Gen Z member of Congress isn’t going to solve everything. I know there’s not one person, not one elected official, not one politician that's going to save us all.

I know I’m not the voice for every single member of my generation, but what I can do is promise that I’ll fight for a future we deserve and bring the urgency my generation needs in Congress.

Thanks for believing in our movement,

Rep. Maxwell Frost