PA college students rally with Gen Z congressman amid youth vote effort

Maxwell Frost, Congress’ youngest member, rallied with Gen Z voters in Philadelphia on Saturday. Gen Z voters have shifted their support for Kamala Harris ahead of the election 

Close to 100 Philadelphia area college students rallied with Congressman Maxwell Frost (D-FL) on Saturday as Gen Z and Millennials show growing enthusiasm for Vice President Kamala Harris. 

Harris’ support from younger Americans can be seen on all corners of the internet from brat green to coconut memes, and that support is starting to translate in recent polling data. 

A recent poll from Suffolk University and USA Today found Harris leading Gen Z and Millennial voters by 13%, which was a 26% swing from June when the poll found Donald Trump leading young voters by 11%.

“I’m here to show support for Harris’ and Walz’s campaign, and obviously as a college student myself, I think it’s important that the young voters get involved in this election, get involved politically just because all of these topics are on the ballot this November,” Deiya Pandya, a junior at the University of Pennsylvania, told The Keystone. 

Frost, 27, is the first Gen Z and the youngest member of Congress after getting elected in 2022, was in Philadelphia to mobilize young voters ahead of the upcoming election. 

“There’s this notion right now that young people aren’t voting, it’s bs,” Frost said.

“We had the highest youth voter turnout in the history of our country in 2020, in 2018 and 2022, the first and second highest youth voter turnout for a midterm in the history of our country, Gen Z is voting, but like anything else we want to do even better.”

During his speech, Frost highlighted Harris’ plan to combat the ongoing housing crisis, which calls for the construction of 3 million new housing units nationwide and provide first-time homeowners with $25,000 to help with a down payment. 

“To be honest, I’ve had criticisms for both parties nationally that we haven’t put forth a great comprehensive agenda on housing, but no more. This is a priority for the vice president,” Frost said. 

“Here’s the thing. Usually when people talk about housing, it’ll be very one-sided, but her plan talks about tenants, her plan talks about new homeowners, potential homeowners. It talks about current homeowners. It includes all of us.”

Frost then went on to warn the crowd of voters about Project 2025 and how it would subvert democracy. 

“They devised this plan to make it so that there’s always a conservative stamp, a permanent stamp, on this country no matter who wins what election” Frost said. 

“That is what Project 2025 is about. It’s about subverting democracy, changing our systems because Donald Trump said it, ‘if you vote for me this time, you won’t have to vote again.’”