Jacob Ogles
U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost doesn’t represent a district that normally gets attention from House Republicans.
But the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) this year sent out repeated attacks on other members of Florida’s U.S. House delegation for associating with the Orlando Democrat.
The most recent smear followed a Unidos US roundtable Frost attended with U.S. Rep. Darren Soto, a Kissimmee Democrat and one of two Florida Democrats being targeted by the NRCC in 2026. Frost posted a photo online of himself and Soto together discussing negative impacts of a GOP-crafted budget deal signed by President Donald Trump.
“Working families deserve better,” Frost posted on social media. “We’re fighting back to reverse these reckless policies and help hardworking families breathe easier.”
But the photo soon appeared in an NRCC email blast bearing the subject line: “Partners in Lies: Darren Soto and Maxwell Frost.
“Out of touch Darren Soto continues to show Floridians that his allegiance lies with radical lunatics like Maxwell Frost who want to dismantle public safety and life-saving programs at the expense of Florida families,” read a statement by NRCC spokesperson Maureen O’Toole. “Voters are ready to show Soto next fall that their allegiance doesn’t lie with him.”
It’s the latest press release sent out by the political arm of House Republicans this year that targets Soto based on his work with Frost. Soto and Frost represent neighboring districts in Central Florida. Nearly as many email blasts slammed U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a Parkland Democrat who is also in the NRCC’s sights this election cycle.
Soto’s campaign, for its part, has dismissed attacks.
“Trump’s mass deportations are trashing Florida’s economy, raising prices, and destroying local families. His tariffs will make costs go up even more, while his Big Ugly Law cuts Obamacare, Medicaid, SNAP, and Pell grants for local families. These harmful policies are why Trump is now so deeply unpopular. Rep. Soto will continue to support Central Floridians and push back against them,” reads a statement from the Soto campaign.
“Central Floridians are also outraged seeing their loved ones deported, TPS and parole cancelled for Cubans, Venezuelans, Haitians and others, and hearing about the civil rights violations taking place at detention centers, like ‘Alligator Alcatraz.’ Rep. Soto will continue to conduct rigorous oversight over ICE (Immigrations and Customs Enforcement) along with the rest of the Florida Democratic Delegation, including Rep Frost. His constituents demand it.”
But Republicans House Democrats in battlegrounds work with Frost at their own peril. They say Frost, the youngest member of Congress, represents the fringe of his own party. GOP sources note that while moderate Republicans show no reluctance in distancing themselves from the most extreme members of the Republican caucus, Frost has been embraced as a national surrogate for all House Democrats.
Both Soto and Moskowitz were part of a contingent of Democratic lawmakers, along with Frost, who took a high-profile tour in July of the soon-to-close Alligator Alcatraz facility in South Florida. And all of the Democrats have frequently co-signed letters from all Florida Democrats in Congress on issues including public education funding and Medicaid expansion. So there hasn’t been any significant effort to distance from Frost explicitly.
Moskowitz declined to comment for this story. But he and Frost hold a key bond as classmates, the only two Democrats newly elected to Congress in the 2022 election cycle. Shortly after being sworn in, both were named as Vice Chairs for the Democratic caucus’ Gun Violence Prevention Task Force.
As Moskowitz seeks a third term in a district that appears increasingly competitive, Republicans have tried to paint him as an ideological compatriot. Shortly after Trump signed an executive order against cashless bail, the NRCC sent out a release calling Frost the poster child for the progressive justice policy priority and labeling him “Moskowitz’s BFF” (best friend forever).
“Dangerous Democrat Jared Moskowitz is more interested in protecting criminals than Floridians. His outrageous pro-crime, anti-law enforcement agenda is wildly out of touch with voters, and they won’t forget it when they head to the polls next November,” O’Toole said.
For his part, Frost self-describes as a progressive, and has the voting record to prove it. The advocate website ProgressivePunch, which grades lawmakers positively for a liberal voting record, gives Frost an ‘A’ and ranks him as the 8th most progressive member of Congress with a 98.92% lifetime score.
The same site gives Soto a ‘B’ and Moskowitz a ‘D’, ranking them the 136th and 198th most progressive members of Congress respectively.
Frost told Florida Politics he thinks little of the attacks against his more moderate Democratic colleagues.
“This is the same group working to elect politicians who cut Medicaid and kicked two million Floridians off their healthcare,” Frost said. “I’m focused on tackling the affordability crisis, while Republicans are focused on tax breaks for billionaires and mega corporations.”
But his record includes tackling some issues long considered third rails with Florida Politics even for Democrats.
Frost voted last year against military aid for Israel, and issued a statement blaming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a “seemingly endless war in Gaza that has claimed the lives of countless innocent Palestinian civilians.” Both Moskowitz and Soto voted for the funding, and Moskowitz has been an outspoken defender of Israel, but the NRCC hit both for Frost’s various Israel criticisms anyway.
“Radical anti-Israel, pro-Hamas Maxwell Frost puts our enemies first while our allies suffer,” O’Toole wrote in a statement this month. “And out of touch Democrat Jared Moskowitz stands shoulder to shoulder with him and his dangerous agenda.”
Similarly, as Republicans work to win over Hispanic voters across the country, the NRCC cast House Democrats as soft on crime, including acts tied to international crime organizations based in South America. After Frost and Soto held a joint town hall in July, the NRCC connected both to gang.
“Radical lunatic Maxwell Frost has it backwards,” O’Toole said in a statement. “Instead of fighting for Floridians, he cares about letting criminals run free and putting illegal aliens ahead of his law-abiding constituents. And Darren Soto is standing right there with him.”
And when Frost in April flew to El Salvador to draw attention to the deportation of a Maryland man Trump alleged was an MS-13 member, the NRCC offered to buy plane tickets for Moskowitz and Soto as well.
The interest in Frost doesn’t signal a belief his Orlando district will be in play next year. Nearly 61% of voters in Florida’s 10th Congressional District supported Democrat Kamala Harris for President in November, according to MCI Maps, even as Trump won more than 56% of the vote statewide.
But only about 51% of voters in Soto’s district favored Harris, and the Democratic presidential nominee barely won half the vote in Moskowitz’s jurisdiction.
The NRCC believes Florida will continue trending more conservative, and a recent analysis of national voter registration trends by The New York Times bolsters that view. And outside of the Orlando area represented by Frost, nowhere in Florida has elected a member of Congress with as liberal a voting record as the 28-year-old progressive champion.
The question now will be if voters feel like punishing members of Congress who work even on issues of regional interest with a Florida colleague from the left-most faction of the party.
