Representative Lee Zeldin of New York's First Congressional District announced last Thursday that he will seek the Republican nomination for governor in the 2022 election. The announcement followed several weeks' exploration of a run for governor by the congressman, who was re-elected in November to a fourth term in the House of Representatives.
One of former President Trump's most ardent defenders in Congress, Mr. Zeldin has been harshly critical of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who faces accusations of sexual harassment from several women, as well as allegations of a cover-up of deaths in nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic. Mr. Cuomo has announced his intention to seek a fourth term, but he is under investigation by the State Legislature, the state attorney general's office, and the State Joint Commission on Public Ethics.
"New York has had enough," Mr. Zeldin said in an email to supporters. "In Andrew Cuomo's New York, businesses are shuttering, senseless violence is rising, and New Yorkers are packing up and fleeing. We can't survive any more of Andrew Cuomo." His campaign announcement included a link to zeldinfornewyork.com, where people can sign up for automatic monthly donations to his campaign. The website refers to Mr. Cuomo as "a disgrace" and seeks pledges for its "fire Cuomo money bomb."
"It's time we restore our New York and save our state," Mr. Zeldin, who served two terms in the State Senate prior to his 2014 election to the House, continued in his announcement. "I want New Yorkers to have a state they can be proud of again."
A second email last week claimed that Mr. Zeldin had already passed the $1 million fund-raising mark. He has backers on Republican committees in Suffolk and Nassau Counties. Jesse Garcia, chairman of the Suffolk G.O.P., said in a statement on April 7 that New York "is at a crossroads," and denounced Governor Cuomo as a liar and a bully.
"If we're going to turn his ship around, we need Lee Zeldin at the helm," Mr. Garcia wrote. "Lee is a veteran, former prosecutor, family man, and lifelong New Yorker who will work hard and effectively to reverse Albany's attacks on our wallets, our safety, and our freedoms."
Mr. Cuomo, 63, announced his plan to seek a fourth term during a 2019 radio interview, although that announcement long predated the uproar over sexual harassment allegations and deaths in nursing homes during the pandemic. During a long career in public service, he has served as an assistant district attorney in New York City, as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Clinton, and as New York State Attorney General.
A Republican has not won statewide office since 2002, when then-State Senator George E. Pataki won a surprise upset over Andrew Cuomo's father, then-Gov. Mario Cuomo. The elder Cuomo was also seeking a fourth term.
Mr. Zeldin, who is 41, faced calls for his resignation in the wake of the Jan. 6 armed insurrection of the United States Capitol, an act of domestic terrorism encouraged by now-former President Trump and intended to overturn the certification of electoral votes that was underway. Several people died, including a Capitol Police officer. A joint session of the House and Senate, during which the certification of the electoral count is usually a formality, was abruptly halted, and lawmakers were rushed into hiding as the mob ransacked the building, looting and destroying property, some apparently seeking to assassinate Vice President Pence and Democratic Party leaders. When the proceedings resumed hours later,
Representative Zeldin resumed his effort to challenge Arizona's electoral votes for Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris.
That effort followed Mr. Zeldin's insistence, for weeks after Mr. Trump lost his re-election bid, that the election was illegitimate because state officials had changed election rules to enable voting during the pandemic. In December, he supported a Supreme Court challenge to the certified election results from four states won by Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris (the court denied the complaint). Those moves, in turn, followed years of defending the president, including throughout his 2019 impeachment in the House of Representatives and subsequent acquittal in the Senate.
An activist group called Progressive East End Reformers was among those taking part in a protest outside Mr. Zeldin's office in Patchogue following the insurrection. The New York State Democratic Committee and the activist group Suffolk Progressives circulated petitions, the former calling for Mr. Zeldin's immediate resignation, the latter calling for the Suffolk County Legislature to condemn Mr. Zeldin's attempt "to subvert democracy and overturn a free and fair election."
The backlash grew in February when 22 active and retired lawyers, most of them Mr. Zeldin's constituents, filed a complaint with the Attorney Grievance Committee for the Supreme Court, Appellate Division, in Albany, charging violation of "the most fundamental ethics rules, including participating in frivolous litigation, making false statements regarding the presidential election, and committing, arguably, a criminal act that reflects on his trustworthiness."
The attorneys, most of them Democrats and several of them residents of East Hampton Town, sought "an immediate investigation" of Mr. Zeldin's actions in the period following the Nov. 3 election and consideration of sanctions "up to and including revocation" of Mr. Zeldin's license to practice law in New York State. A call to the Attorney Grievance Committee last week to check on the status of the complaint had not been returned as of press time.
Mr. Zeldin easily won re-election in November in the First Congressional District, which encompasses eastern and central Suffolk County including the five East End Towns, Brookhaven, most of Smithtown, and part of Islip. However, his positions on a range of issues may complicate prospects for statewide office. As a state senator, he voted against the Marriage Equality Act that passed in 2011. He has voted against funding Planned Parenthood and the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, known as the Dream Act, which would grant temporary conditional residence, the right to work, and a path to permanent residence to unauthorized immigrants who entered the United States as minors. He voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare.
He co-sponsored the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017, which would authorize someone holding a concealed-carry permit issued in one state to carry a concealed firearm in any state that also authorizes concealed carry, including in a school zone. The National Rifle Association awarded him a score of 83 percent for 2020, and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence gave him a score of 0 percent for 2015 and 2016.
He holds a 14-percent lifetime score from the League of Conservation Voters. The House of Representatives average is 59 percent.
This story has been updated since it was first published.