Maxwell Frost, a 25-year-old Gen Z member of Congress, made history last month when he won the election in Florida’s 10th Congressional District. However, achieving that historic victory wasn’t simple, and now the cost of the campaign is making it challenging for him to find a residence close to the House.
On Thursday, Frost mentioned applying for a rental in Washington, D.C. He said he told the person processing his application that his “credit was pretty awful” during that procedure.
Just applied to an apartment in DC where I told the guy that my credit was really bad. He said I’d be fine. Got denied, lost the apartment, and the application fee.
This ain’t meant for people who don’t already have money.
— Maxwell Alejandro Frost (@MaxwellFrostFL) December 8, 2022
I’ll be alright, he said,” Frost said. This isn’t for folks without money; I lost the flat and the application cost and got denied.
He continued by saying that he “built up a lot of debt running for Congress for a year and a half,” which is why he has negative credit.
Frost admitted to Politico during his campaign that he had left his job to concentrate on running for office. He “sacrificed” driving for Uber to pay his bills because “I can’t fathom myself not doing anything but fixing the problems we have right now,” he claimed.
However, Frost said on Thursday that his earnings “didn’t make enough money from Uber itself to pay for my living,” adding that they “didn’t go far enough.”
For that primary, I quit my full-time job because I knew that to win at 25 years old, I’d need to be a full-time candidate. 7 days a week, 10-12 hours a day. It’s not sustainable or right but it’s what we had to do, he tweeted. “It isn’t magic that we won our very difficult race. For the majority of the campaign, you have no money coming in unless you work a second job because as a candidate, you can’t provide yourself a stipend or anything until the very end of your campaign.
Members of the House and Senate are paid $174,000 annually, but Frost won’t start receiving that money until after his inauguration on January 3. He needs to find a home in the premium D.C. market in the interim. The city’s median rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $1,786, which is significantly higher than the national average, according to Apartment List. According to Zillow, the cost of living is even greater, with the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment being over $2,300, or just over $300 more than it was the year before.
When she was elected in 2018, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez encountered a comparable challenge, according to Frost.
She told The New York Times, “Those tiny things are very real. I have three months without compensation before I’m a member of Congress. I’ve been merely saving money in the hopes that it will get me through January.
It’s still a problem four years later, said Frost on Thursday.
For the sake of the entire nation, we must improve.
