Fun fact about Maxwell Frost

At the age of 15, fresh out of working on Barack Obama’s reelection campaign, Frost hustled his way to get his nine-piece high-school salsa band, Seguro Que Sí (translation: “of course”), to play at Obama’s second inauguration.

Quotable: More young people could run for office

“You see one 25-year-old run for Congress and win, you think I can do this too, and then more people step up. Someone is the first, more people are the second and the third, and the fourth. I am also very confident that because political engagement and political activity is a habit, it’s a muscle, you build it and then it gets stronger and stronger and stronger. We are just seeing the beginning of Gen Z’s engagement as political leaders.” -Amanda Litman, the co-founder of Run for Something, an organization that supports young people running for state and local office, told NPR

The women are coming for Congress and governor posts

Republican Katie Britt is the first woman elected to the Senate from Alabama. With Becca Blint, Vermont finally elected a woman to Congress.

In Massachusetts, Maura Healey became Massachusetts’s first female governor. The former attorney general, whose prime election issues were ran on protecting abortion access and improving child care costs, is also America’s first out lesbian state executive.

In Arkansas, Republican Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the former Trump White House press secretary, has been elected the first female governor of Arkansas. Her campaign hinged on tackling crime and implementing tax cuts. Her father, Mike Huckabee, held the same position 15 years ago.

Maryland got its first Black governor

Maryland’s first black governor, Democrat Wes Moore, won with a big lead. The celebrity author, who takes over from GOP’s Larry Hogan who reached his two-term limit, defeated Trump-backed state delegate Dan Cox. On his to-do list are lofty ambitions like ending child poverty and closing the racial wealth gap.

Moore is only the third black governor in the US to date. His running mate, former state delegate Aruna Miller, is the first Asian American elected statewide.

Demographics of US politicians, by the digits

Age

79: US president Joe Biden’s age

58.4: Average age of members of the House in the US Congress as of Sept. 30, 2022

64.3: Average age of Senators in the US Congress

80%: House members that are Gen X or baby boomers

LGBTQ

88: LGBTQ candidates actively running for the House in the 2022 cycle

8: LGBTQ candidates actively running for the Senate in the 2022 cycle

Race

28: Black candidates running for governor, House, Senate, and mayoral positions

Gender

5: States where a woman ran against a woman for governor—Alabama, Arizona, Iowa, Michigan and Oregon.

25: women running in gubernatorial races in 20 cities this year; a record

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