The Democrats’ playbook for the midterm elections was to cast a wide net, recruiting candidates that didn’t necessarily look and sound like traditional politicians —and often times, Gen Zers and millennials were part of that.
The results? A historical election that will usher in a wave of 97 Gen Z and millennial leaders into Congress, including 90 members in the House of Representatives, five members of the Senate, and two delegates, according to Future Caucus , which is the nation’s largest bipartisan organization for Gen Z and millennial lawmakers. Another 15 races are still uncalled, with one headed to a runoff.
Add that up, and the 120th Congress will have at least triple the number of Gen Z members come January, compared to the previous legislature.
Among the new members of the House is 27-year-old Michael Alfonso, the youngest Republican elected to the body. The Cuban-American will represent Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District. In his acceptance speech, Alfonso said it’s time for younger Americans to have a seat at the table regarding national political issues .
In her first run for office, 29-year-old Democratic Socialist Melat Kiros won in Colorado’s 1st Congressional District, on a platform that addressed young voter issues such as the high cost of living, affordable housing, and universal healthcare. Her message: It’s time to take the power back.
In the Senate, millennials were the generation with the largest number of candidates running in the midterms, with five wins so far.
In May 2025, Democrats held a secret retreat with donors and party officials to expand the Senate map, where Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) encouraged a number of candidates to run, including a young state legislator from Texas named James Talarico, according to reporting by The New York Times .
Now, a year and a half later, 37-year-old Talarico is among the freshman incoming class of millennials entering the Senate, including: 42-year old Democrat Abdul El-Sayed (D-MI) in Michigan, the first Muslim elected to the Senate; 45-year-old Democrat pediatrician Dr. Annie Andrews (D-SC), the first woman elected to the body from South Carolina; and 45-year-old Republican Julia Letlow (R-LA) in Louisiana.
As of this writing, 43-year-old Democrat Scott Colom’s run for Mississippi’s seat is too close to call , but if he wins, he would be the state’s first Black senator since the Reconstruction era.
In total, 272 Gen Z and millennial candidates ran in the midterms, winning some 38% of their races that have been called so far, per Future Caucus.
