Generation Z, or those born between 1997 and 2012, are now old enough to run for federal office, specifically the U.S. House of Representatives.
And they are running. Maxwell Alejandro Frost, a 25-year-old running for Congress in Florida’s 10th Congressional District, and Ray Reed, also 25, who is vying for Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District, are leading the charge, highlighting a new generation’s political ambitions and its strategies for pursuing public office at a time of deep partisan divisions that sees older politicians clinging to power for longer. Both Democrats, Frost and Reed, according to their platforms, seem to embody the generational shift toward more liberal values that characterizes younger voters, says Nick Beauchamp, associate professor of political science at Northeastern.
