Lee Zeldin served as a congressman for New York before mounting a failed bid to become governor of the Empire State.
President-elect Donald Trump announced on Nov. 11 that former New York Congressman Lee Zeldin is his choice to take over the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
In a statement posted to the social media platform Truth Social, Trump said Zeldin “will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet.”
He said he expects Zeldin to establish new environmental review and maintenance standards that allow the United States to grow in a “healthy and well-structured way.”
“It is an honor to join President Trump’s Cabinet as EPA Administrator,” Zeldin said on X. “We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI. We will do so while protecting access to clean air and water.”
Here are five things to know about the incoming administration’s latest pick:
State, Federal Lawmaker
Zeldin’s political service began in 2010 when he was elected to the New York Senate. He served at the state level until 2014 and was then elected to Congress, representing New York’s First Congressional District. He served in that role from 2015 to 2023.
While he was in Washington, Zeldin served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Financial Services Committee. He was also one of two Jewish Republicans in Congress and co-chaired the House Republican Israel Caucus.
“He was a vocal advocate on foreign policy, border security, military affairs, combating antisemitism, environmental issues, energy policy, and much more,” Trump said in his announcement. ”For his district, he championed vast infrastructure and research projects, including the preservation of Plum Island, Army Corps of Engineers initiatives, and a $2 billion Electron-Ion Collider for Brookhaven National Lab.”
Zeldin was a staunch defender of Trump when House Democrats attempted to impeach him. He was one of eight House Republicans who served on Trump’s impeachment team during his first impeachment trial in 2020, a group that ran alongside the president’s legal defense team.
By T.J. Muscaro
