President Donald Trump’s top official at the Environmental Protection Agency, Lee Zeldin, is weighing in — as much as he says he can — on New York politics in an exclusive interview with NY1.

The former 2022 GOP gubernatorial candidate cautioned New York lawmakers from backing tax hikes.

“That really needs to be a deterrent for anyone who’s in elected office in New York who has any desire whatsoever to stop the out-migration. If you want to stop the out-migration, you can’t be raising costs, you need to be lowering them,” Zeldin said.

Zeldin said in his current role as EPA’s administrator, he’s worked in many states where he’s interacted with former Big Apple residents.

“I have seen so many New Yorkers elsewhere, and they’re not coming back every single day. Those ranks grow. North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida, Texas, these New Yorkers are gone. Businesses gone,” he said.

What You Need To Know

President Donald Trump’s top official at the Environmental Protection Agency, Lee Zeldin, is weighing in — as much as he says he can — on New York politics in an exclusive interview with NY1

The former 2022 GOP gubernatorial candidate cautioned New York lawmakers from backing tax hikes

Zeldin said the political dynamics of the New York gubernatorial race are different

He’s also reportedly in the running to become Trump’s next United States Attorney General

Gov. Kathy Hochul, Zeldin’s former opponent, has also previously said that taxing the wealthy and large corporations could contribute to more people leaving New York, and promised last fall that she wouldn’t raise taxes — but she also recently revealed a plan to tax non-primary residents’ second homes valued at $5 million or more.

Zeldin said the political dynamics of the New York gubernatorial race are different.

“When I ran, there was a mayor in New York City, Eric Adams, you have a different dynamic now. Now, the issues change as you go from one race to the next,” he said.

Zeldin claimed he can’t opine on Republican gubernatorial candidate and fellow Long Island resident Bruce Blakeman.

“As far as handicapping and personal preferences, my editorializing on the race, I would have to come back as private citizen Lee Zeldin to share those thoughts,” he said.

The reason is because of ethical restrictions outlined in the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from engaging in political activity or interfering in an election – even in a personal capacity, according to the EPA.

“I would say that over the course of the last four years, you saw voter enrollment trending towards Republicans, more Republicans, more conservatives, more independents, less Democrats,” Zeldin said.

But the GOP is on the brink of losing majority control of the U.S. House of Representatives, and Blakeman trails Hochul by 13 points, according to a recent poll.

President Donald Trump is backing Blakeman, reiterating that support on social media this week.

The state Democratic Party slammed the candidacy, saying in a statement, “Donald Trump’s toxic agenda is deeply unpopular with New Yorkers… New York Democrats will win up and down the ballot this November, defeat Blakeman, and take back the House to hold Trump and his enablers in D.C. accountable.”

But Trump has a surprising relationship with Mamdani.

“If Mayor Mamdani shows up to that first meeting and he wants to actually work with the president, I think they’re gonna have a great meeting. That was my prediction,” Zeldin said. “Now, if Mayor Mamdani showed up in that meeting and he didn’t want to work with the president — instead, he wanted to grandstand and drop bombs and have conflict and friction — well, then that would have been very different. But I know how much the president loves New York City.”

Zeldin is also reportedly in the running to become Trump’s next United States Attorney General.

“I love what I’m doing right now, and that’s where my focus is. That’s where it’s been. We all serve at the pleasure of the president. The American public put President Trump in office to assemble the best people who he can think of for all these key roles. And I’m honored to do my job,” he said.