Former Republican U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin has been tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to be the next Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Zeldin said in a post on X, confirming reporting first made by The New York Post.

“It is an honor to join President Trump’s Cabinet as EPA Administrator,” Zeldin wrote in the post. “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.”

Zeldin served in Congress for eight years, representing New York's 1st Congressional District on Long Island from 2015 to 2022. He ran for governor of New York in 2022 and was narrowly defeated by Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul in the closest gubernatorial contest the state has seen in 28 years. As a candidate, he pressed for the reversal of New York’s ban on natural gas drilling.

Both in Congress and after, Zeldin has been a fierce ally for Trump and has spent the last two years as a strong advocate for getting Republicans elected to office, recently barnstorming his home state to stump for Republican candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives.

Zeldin serving in this role as subject to confirmation by the U.S. Senate.

Zeldin is the second New York Republican Monday to be named as a nominee to Trump’s cabinet, the other being U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, to be ambassador of the United Nations.