Rep. Maxwell Frost meets with students on the South Oval to encourage voter turnout and participation in the upcoming general election in Ohio. Photo Credit: Josephine Pajemola | Lantern Reporter.
A U.S. Congressman, Maxwell Frost, visited the South Oval on Monday to speak with students and encourage voter turnout for the Nov. 3 election.?
Frost is the U.S. Representative for Florida’s 10th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2023. Why would he leave Florida to speak here? Elected at 25 years old, the Democrat is the youngest and only Generation Z member of Congress.?
Frost’s speech to students Monday centered on why it’s important for young people to vote and get involved in the upcoming general election in Ohio.
“I think it’s radical that we have a White House and we have a party in charge right now that is passing tax breaks for billionaires and mega corporations, and then to pay for it, what are they doing?” Frost said. “Ripping away healthcare from millions of Americans. That is radical, and it’s fueled by corruption. And we need to put a check on it. That’s why this election is so important.”
About 40 students gathered to stand on the grass around a table of pickets and buttons endorsing Sherrod Brown, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate to represent Ohio. Brown faces Republican incumbent Jon Husted in a close race that could help determine which party controls the U.S. Senate.
Bobby McAlpine, the constituent outreach communications coordinator for the Ohio House of Representatives and a former Ohio State student body president, opened the floor at the meet-and-greet.
“President Trump is doing a lot, and Congressman Frost, he knows exactly what President Trump is doing,” McAlpine said.
Frost began his speech by addressing why he said voting for a Democratic candidate such as Sherrod Brown is critical for the good of the nation.
“We have a criminal enterprise in the White House,” Frost said. “The thing the president has done to make the most money in his entire life is being president. That is corruption in broad daylight, and it is important that we take the United States Senate, so we can hold him accountable. That way we can pass an agenda that actually centers working people.”
McAlpine emphasized the importance the Ohio election has for the country as a whole.
“Where Ohio goes, so goes the nation,” he said.
Frost also addressed the impact young voters can have and the importance of young people getting involved in the campaign to elect democratic representatives.
Frost detailed the unique challenges that Generation Z has, noting high rates of gun violence, enough to be the leading cause of death for young people, he said, and the rising cost of living, leading to an inability to pay off debt.
Frost said that young people are doing exactly what they were taught to do and still are not able to build the lives that they want.
“We have an economy that’s not working for us, for working people, for young people, and so that is why it’s important to have young people at the table,” Frost said.
Frost emphasized that with the upcoming general election, an election that he predicts will be very close, young people must be aware there are many ways they can make a difference in their home state of Ohio.
“If you help somebody make a plan to vote, they are 90 percent more likely to go vote,” Frost said. “Of course, it’s ‘vote,’ but for everybody here, it’s not ‘vote, period.’ It’s ‘vote, and.’”
Frost said the ways students can go beyond just voting can be everything from encouraging family and friends to vote to speaking with the elected officials on policies they want to see implemented.
“We get to choose in this election who we want to hold accountable, and it’s a pretty simple choice if you ask me,” Frost said. “On one side you have somebody who’s going to be a Donald Trump lapdog, who’s going to continue to vote for endless wars, who’s going to continue to vote to give billionaires tax breaks while we’re getting zero, or you have someone who’s lived the life of being a fighter for unions and working class people.”
Frost said that he wants the latter in the U.S. Senate. He wants Sherrod Brown.
“If you want to change the politics, then you got to change the politicians,” Frost said. “And we have an opportunity to elect someone here who’s going to help us put a check on this president’s administration.”
