Lee Zeldin is relaxed and talking about a recent baseball scuffle (he’s a Mets fan; while he didn’t take sides in the skirmish between Tim Anderson and José Ramírez, he did watch). 

After 12 years in public office, he appreciates the opportunity to stay home with his two girls for that all-important year before they head off to college. 

He told Capital Tonight that being “dad-in-chief” is the best job he’s ever had, but would consider a cabinet position if it was offered to him by a Republican president. 

“I believe if it was an invitation from the president of the United States to run an important position in the federal government, that’s something that I would definitely consider, for sure,” Zeldin said. 

Zeldin came out early with an endorsement of former President Donald Trump. When asked about his latest indictment, Zeldin repeated what many Republicans have alleged, that it’s “criminalizing free speech.” 

He also said Trump really believes he won the 2020 election for president.

“I’ve spoken to President Trump a lot, and he really does genuinely believe that he won in 2020,” Zeldin said.

The former congressman and gubernatorial candidate has been taking a swing through upstate New York over the past few days, supporting Republican candidates for local races and pushing Gov. Kathy Hochul to veto legislation that would move local elections from odd to even-numbered years.

“We’re not going to be deciding these races on local issues. We’re going to have good county executives and town supervisors and town councilmen swept out of office on political winds and not based on merit,” Zeldin said of his opposition to the bill.

Zeldin also compared how he would address the issues raised by the influx migrants to how Gov. Kathy Hochul has addressed them.