5 things to know about Lee Zeldin as he tops Trump’s list for AG

President Donald Trump is considering a person to replace Pam Bondi as U.S. attorney general who’s familiar to New Yorkers.

Lee Zeldin, the state’s 2022 Republican candidate-for-governor-turned Environmental Protection Agency administrator, tops the president’s list to be the next attorney general and lead the Department of Justice, according to The New York Times and CNN. 

Trump fired Bondi last week after she drew criticism for her handling of the release of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. And the president had expressed strong dissatisfaction in how aggressively Bondi pursued investigations into some Democrats, like state Attorney General Letitia James, who are the president’s political adversaries. Trump named Todd Blanche, his former personal attorney, as acting attorney general while the president considers a permanent replacement. 

Trump is also rumored to be considering another New Yorker for attorney general: Jeanine Ferris Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. She ran, and lost, the 2005 race for New York’s attorney general to Andrew Cuomo. 

Zeldin did not return a request for comment from City & State. But some Republicans in the state said they’d love to see Zeldin to lead the DOJ. Former state senator Phil Boyle worked closely with Zeldin when the pair represented Long Island in Albany’s upper chamber. And Boyle assisted Zeldin with his campaigns.

“We think he would be a wonderful choice,” Boyle told City & State. “One thing about Lee Zeldin: When he puts his mind to something, there’s no backing down. He’s been a leader in any position he’s had.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul had little to say over the weekend when asked about the possibility that her previous gubernatorial opponent could be nominated as the next attorney general.

“The qualifications that Donald Trump would expect in his attorney general? I’ll let you be the judge,” Hochul said.

Here are five things to know about Zeldin as he sits at the top of the president’s list.

He put the state GOP in reach of the Executive Mansion for the first time in decades

Zeldin bested three other Republicans in a heated primary and came within just 6 points of defeating Hochul in 2022 – campaigning hard on public safety and the economy at a time when political tides were swinging to the right. 

Republicans lost the statewide race, but Zeldin’s campaign helped boost other Republican candidates in consequential downballot congressional races. Party leaders credit Zeldin with giving the GOP enough momentum to pick up three House seats in New York, cementing a narrow majority they’ve held since. At the time, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi blamed Hochul for Republicans taking control of the House, which has helped to advance Trump’s agenda, and makes it more difficult for his opponents to create legislative obstacles in his second term.

But Republicans’ close defeat four years ago has given the party hope for future victory in the state. Zeldin’s campaign led the GOP in deep-blue New York to the closest governor's race since former Gov. George Pataki's first campaign in 1994, and the highest percentage of a vote for the Republican gubernatorial candidate in 20 years. Zeldin’s campaign showed a vulnerability conservatives hope to build on in this year’s gubernatorial matchup between Hochul and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman.

He’s from Long Island

Born in East Meadow and raised in Shirley, Zeldin remains a Long Island guy through and through. His political identity has largely been shaped by the kitchen table issues of the 1st Congressional District: crime, the cost of living and local control. His potential move to the DOJ would put a Suffolk County conservative at the forefront of the federal legal agency that has spent years deadlocked in battles with high-profile state and local prosecutors. And the party is once again putting its hope behind a Long Islander this election.

He’s a Trump stalwart

A prominent ally of Trump’s from the start, Zeldin was one of the president’s loudest defenders during his first impeachment hearings in 2019. And Zeldin has solidified that bond by accelerating the president’s climate policy rollbacks within Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda of his second term. Zeldin was confirmed by the Senate to lead the EPA in January 2025 – targeting Obama- and Biden-era regulations on greenhouse gas emissions, clean air standards and others. 

Through his EPA tenure, he’s focused on limited government and shifting toward reliance on U.S. industries, which would likely be principles he’d bring to the DOJ.

He’s a former U.S. Army military intelligence officer, congressman and state senator

Zeldin was 23 years old when he graduated from Albany Law School, and was the youngest attorney in the state at the time. 

He is a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, serving for 22 years in active duty and the Army reserve. He was deployed to Iraq while assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. 

Zeldin worked as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Army JAG Corps, and had a brief stint as an attorney for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. He practiced law full-time until he was elected to the state Senate in 2010. He spearheaded legislation to cut the MTA payroll tax and to create the PFC Joseph P. Dwyer PTSD Peer-to-Peer program. 

He represented parts of Long Island in Congress from 2014 through 2022 when he ran for governor.

He’ll have plenty to answer for in a (second) Senate confirmation hearing

While Zeldin’s list of accomplishments is lengthy, his legal resume is short, and would likely face intense scrutiny from members of the Senate Judiciary Committee if he’s chosen for the job. 

Zeldin will have to defend his experience as a military prosecutor and DOJ outsider. But for Trump, that shift is a primary selling point.

If selected, Zeldin is apt to come under fire for other head-scratching moments during his 2022 campaign.

In July 2022, the state Board of Elections rejected Zeldin's attempt to run on a third party line known as the Independence Party. The Libertarian Party filed an objection to that after 11,000 of the signatures submitted were found to be identical photocopies of other pages. Zeldin and his campaign have denied wrongdoing, and said at the time they were not aware of the photocopies. 

And controversy surrounds an incident where Zeldin was attacked on the campaign trail.

While Zeldin spoke at a rally that summer, a man in the Monroe County audience climbed on stage and attacked Zeldin, lunging at him with a self-defense keychain. 

Former Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley charged the man with second-degree attempted assault – an offense in the state that is not bail-eligible, which Zeldin immediately used to campaign against bail reform.

Doorley, who co-chaired Zeldin’s campaign at the time, was later slapped with an ethics complaint for her role as a prosecutor in the attack – violating state ethics rules.