Amid congressional chaos, Frost reaches across the aisle to the GOP

Democratic freshman U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost is one of the most progressive members of Congress, but in the past few months, he’s been working alongside Republicans, including neighboring conservative Rep. Cory Mills, on bills ranging from military voting to hurricanes.

“I’m really proud of the fact that we’ve released six bills, and half of them are bipartisan,” Frost told the Orlando Sentinel in an interview.

“When I first got to Congress, a lot of people would come up to me and say, ‘Are you going to be someone who fights and makes noise?’” said Frost, 26, the first Gen Z member to win a seat in the House. “‘Or are you going to be someone who gets things done?’ And I always rejected that binary choice. I’ve always done both.”

It’s a viewpoint that could be seen as similar to his Democratic predecessor in Orlando, former U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, who was a partisan bomb-thrower and yet successfully shepherded bipartisan bills during his time in office.

“Although he was certainly an outspoken liberal firebrand, [Grayson] actually had a reputation of getting legislation through Congress,” said Aubrey Jewett, a professor of political science at the University of Central Florida. “And it sounds like Maxwell Frost is, to some degree, following in that style.”

Frost, who defeated Grayson and seven other Democrats in the 2022 congressional primary, has been outspoken on progressive issues, including gun safety and abortion rights. He had also been extremely critical of the GOP for the recent chaos of overthrowing House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and rejecting three nominees before electing a new one.

“But at the same time, the reality of the world is not every issue is liberal or conservative,” Jewett said. “And there are a number of issues where legislators can work together if they choose to.”

Reaching out in a storm

Frost’s hurricane preparedness bill with U.S. Rep. Dan Webster, R-Clermont, would require the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to review how seniors, people with disabilities, non-English speakers and rural and urban populations receive and react to emergency notifications to make sure they’re successfully reached.

The bill was turned into an amendment to a larger weather bill currently moving through Congress.

“This is an idea that my team and I came up with,” Frost said. “… In our research, we found out that most people who die in storms are seniors. And we found out that not everyone who needs evacuation warnings gets information in time to make a good decision for them and their family.”

Frost said he approached Webster because they both serve on the Science, Space and Technology Committee.

“Having him on board would be very helpful in passing the Weather Act, but also I know he cares about it and he’s passionate about it,” Frost said. “[He and] his team were very interested and he joined me on that bill, and we’re leading it together.”

An unsigned statement from Webster’s office said the seven-term congressman was no stranger to bipartisan legislation, citing bills from 2023 including those on mental healthcare, fentanyl and passport services.

Working with Mills

Frost’s other two bipartisan bills are with Mills, R-New Smyrna Beach, his fellow freshman to the north representing Seminole and parts of Volusia counties.

Despite representing adjoining districts, the two are far apart ideologically. While Mills was part of a Black Lives Matter protest that was tear-gassed in 2020, Mills, an Army veteran, was a defense contractor who bragged in ads about supplying tear gas to police.

But Frost and Mills have joined up to take on excess defense spending and military voting expansion.

The first bill seeks to “avoid waste, fraud, and abuse” in defense spending by empowering inspectors general to “crack down on the billions of unaccounted taxpayer dollars given to the [Department of Defense] and military contractors,” Frost said. “It just seems like there’s insufficient accountability.”

A similar amendment was included in the larger National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2024, but Frost also wants to pass it as a standalone bill.

“So I approached Cory, because even though we agree or disagree on a lot of different things, I know he’s very committed to fiscal responsibility, no matter where it is,” Frost said. “I knew this might be a place where we can have synergy.”

The other Frost-Mills bill would fix a gap in federal law that mandates active duty military members stationed overseas receive ballots early enough to successfully return them, which often doesn’t apply to reservists or National Guard members.

“We have just under a million service members who, if they’re overseas, don’t have a federally mandated right to vote,” Frost said. “And it’s an oversight that we wanted to fix. So I approached Cory on it. I know he cares about U.S. service members, and he hopped on the bill.”

Mills’ office did not return a request for comment.

So far, Frost has been lobbying Republicans more than Democrats, he said.

“Conceivably, there might be a period here soon where you go on the [congressional] website, and you actually see more Republicans and Democrats on it,” Frost said. “Not because Democrats don’t believe in it, but because I just prioritize the conversations with Republicans first.”

Jewett said that even in an ultra-ideological Congress, a bill expanding military voting rights is one where parties can work together.

“On the one hand, if you’re conservative, they traditionally have been very, very pro-military, and progressives have typically been very pro, ‘Let’s make it easier to vote and make sure that people have an opportunity to vote,’” Jewett said. “It’s a case where the ideologies can sort of merge on that issue.”

‘The old Florida way’

David Jolly, a former GOP congressman from St. Petersburg and co-founder of the Forward Party, said he and former Democratic colleague Gwen Graham called such bipartisan efforts “the old Florida way.”

“It should be natural for members of Congress from the same geographic region to work together in support of the local community, regardless of where the lines actually split up districts,” Jolly said. “It’s not always the case. I was a little surprised when I got to Congress at the level of partisanship even within the Florida delegation, the unwillingness of members to work across the aisle, and this is on both sides, Republican and Democratic.”

Jolly said the increasingly ideological voters in party primaries don’t encourage members facing challenges, as Webster does with former state Rep. Anthony Sabatini, to boast about working with the other party.

“I think you’ll hear Webster talking about his work on hurricane preparedness,” Jolly said. “But the words ‘Maxwell Frost’ won’t come out of his mouth. … But in a general election? It’s exactly the message that you’ll hear Webster and others talk about.”

‘The future of politics’

Despite his progressive bona fides, Frost is not a member of the “Squad,” the informal group of the most left-wing members of the House that includes some of the biggest targets for Republicans, such as U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.

“He’s worked very hard not just to become a stereotype of a Democratic progressive,” Jewett said.

Mills, though one of the most conservative members of Congress, is also not a member of the ultra-right Freedom Caucus in Congress and didn’t join them in ousting McCarthy last month. He was, however, one of 20 Republicans to torpedo moderate U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer’s bid before Speaker Mike Johnson was ultimately chosen.

“In the broader perspective, it just makes you realize that whether you identify yourself as conservative or liberal or progressive, that everyone on your side is not in lockstep,” Jewett said.

Frost and Mills had been scheduled to square off at a Tiger Bay Club of Central Florida event on Nov. 17, but Mills canceled due to a scheduling conflict.

Working with the other party while maintaining an identity as a strong progressive is sometimes a tough line to walk, Frost said.

“Our motto is ‘Lead with Love’ in our office,” Frost said. “… [That means] you’re going to fight for what you believe, and you’re going to stand up to bullies and stand up for the people. But it also means that you come together, when you can, to fight for what you need.”

Jolly said that Frost and his viewpoint “could be the future of politics.”

“We see, in all of the data, all of the polling numbers, that young people are frustrated with the two major parties and don’t like seeing the world through partisan lenses,” Jolly said. “And what they want is a government that works.

“And I think in Maxwell, you’re seeing somebody who kind of shocked the nation a little bit in his ability to win a congressional seat,” Jolly added “…. But he clearly came to Washington interested in getting things done. And that is exactly what people want to see.”