SCOOP: Rep. Maxwell Frost to Speak at DNC, Putting Gen Z Floridian in National Spotlight

Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL), the first member of Generation Z to be elected to Congress, will speak at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next week, Mediaite has learned.

The Democrats will gather at the United Center in downtown Chicago starting on Monday, August 19, with the festivities wrapping up with a keynote speech from Vice President Kamala Harris to accept the party’s presidential nomination the evening of Thursday, August 22. Her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will speak on Wednesday.

Two sources with knowledge of the DNC’s plans confirmed Frost had been tapped to deliver a main stage speech, with the Harris campaign recognizing how President Joe Biden and the party had been leveraging Frost as a member of Generation Z to bring energy and support from younger voters. One source believed Frost would be speaking on Wednesday, at some point before Walz delivers his remarks. Frost’s speech is expected to cover topics like job creation and other economic issues important to the younger generation.

The Harris campaign is also planning a rally next week 90 miles north in Milwaukee, at the same arena where the RNC with former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) was held last month — a deliberate effort by Democrats to metaphorically thumb their noses at the Republicans and draw a contrast between the two parties, in terms of both policy issues and a more youthful energy, now that Biden is no longer on the top of the Democratic ticket.

Helping deliver that message from the stage in Chicago will be Frost, who was first elected in 2022 from an Orlando area district when he was still a few weeks shy of his 26th birthday. A former national organizing director for the gun control activist group March for Our Lives, he has continued to make gun control a core part of his focus in Congress and is currently running for re-election to his second term.

The Orlando congressman has been a prominent Biden supporter, serving on the campaign’s national advisory board and vocally defending the president against criticisms from fellow Democrats regarding policy issues and concerns about his age. Frost has also appeared with Biden at several campaign office openings and other events. After Biden announced he was stepping aside, Frost swiftly joined other Democrats in uniting behind Harris.

Frost delivering a speech at the DNC puts not only him but also Florida Democrats in the national spotlight. The party has spent the last few election cycles reeling from a series of excruciatingly close statewide election losses (Rick Scott narrowly defeated Alex Sink in 2010 and then Charlie Crist in 2014 for governor and then in 2018, Scott beat Bill Nelson for Senate and Ron DeSantis beat Andrew Gillum for governor in races so close they triggered automatic recounts), followed by the Biden campaign essentially conceding Florida in 2020, and DeSantis sailing on a surge of money from GOP groups both in-state and nationally to deliver a nearly 2o point walloping to Crist in 2022.

Despite these defeats, the Florida Democrats did not give up hope and have managed to flip a few key races recently. Those victories include an open race for the Jacksonville mayor and a special election for a Central Florida state house seat, the latter of which Frost was a visible presence locally helping support get-out-the-vote efforts.

Recent polling shows Harris’ entry into the race has fundamentally improved Democrats’ chances in Florida, noticeably improving from Biden’s polling to come within the edge of the margin of error behind Trump, winning independents, and flipping Miami-Dade back from red to blue.

Florida Democratic Party (FDP) chair Nikki Fried, herself the last Democrat to win a statewide election in the state, has proudly touted the party’s successful efforts to recruit candidates to run in all legislative and congressional districts on the ballot this year. So while there is still widespread skepticism Harris can actually win Florida and some of those districts will prove to be unassailably red — Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), himself a speaker at the RNC last month, is cozy in an R+19 district — the Democrats’ hope is that expanding the playing field will force Republicans to burn more money across the state, and every dollar spent in Florida is one the cash-strapped Trump campaign can’t spend elsewhere.

The Sunshine State has also served as a source of fundraising and volunteer energy for the Harris campaign. The Miami Herald reported that “almost 22,000 Floridians” have signed up to volunteer since Harris replaced Biden on the ticket, people who can phone bank not just in Florida but swing states as well. Frost, with his grassroots organizing background, seems a suitable messenger to help encourage the DNC audience watching on television next week to sign up to volunteer themselves. He currently serves as an advisor for FDP’s youth council, tasked with helping educate party activists around the state on effective organizing tactics.

Former State Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith (D-FL), who is running unopposed for a central Florida state senate seat, told Mediaite he was not aware Frost had been selected to speak at the DNC, but immediately added that he “wouldn’t be surprised” and thought it was a very smart strategic move for the Harris campaign.

Frost “embodies everything that this Democratic ticket stands for, hope for the future,” said Smith. “He’s just a happy Democratic warrior, just like Kamala and Tim, which is what we need, to put the joy back in politics and campaigns.”

Other previously announced speakers at the DNC include Biden, former President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who portrayed the fictional Vice President Selina Meyer on the television series Veep, will host a panel of female Democratic governors including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Mediaite attempted to reach Frost for comment but did not receive a reply.

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Sarah Rumpf joined Mediaite in 2020 and is a Contributing Editor focusing on politics, law, and the media. A native Floridian, Sarah attended the University of Florida, graduating with a double major in Political Science and German, and earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the UF College of Law. Sarah's writing has been featured at National Review, The Daily Beast, Reason, Law & Crime, Independent Journal Review, Texas Monthly, The Capitolist, Breitbart Texas, Townhall, RedState, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Austin-American Statesman, and her political commentary has led to appearances on the BBC, MSNBC, NewsNation, Fox 35 Orlando, Fox 7 Austin, The Young Turks, The Dean Obeidallah Show, and other television, radio, and podcast programs across the globe.