Lee Zeldin is a family man, veteran, and former United States Congressman, New York State Senator, and candidate for Governor of New York. Congressman Zeldin grew up in Suffolk County, New York, where he graduated from William Floyd High School in Mastic Beach. Congressman Zeldin graduated from the State University of New York at Albany (SUNY) and then Albany Law School, becoming New York’s youngest attorney at the age of 23. Lee has served 20 years in the U.S. Army, including a deployment to Iraq in the summer of 2006 with an infantry battalion of fellow paratroopers from the Army’s elite 82nd Airborne Division. He currently serves as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserve. With his wife, Diana, and their twin daughters, Mikayla and Arianna, Lee still resides in his childhood hometown of Shirley, New York.

In 2010, Lee Zeldin was elected to the New York State Senate, where he led the successful effort to repeal the MTA Payroll Tax, a job-killing tax that was hurting New York’s small businesses. He also created the PFC Joseph Dwyer Program, a peer-to-peer counseling program for veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI); the program quickly expanded across New York.

Following four years in the State Senate, Lee Zeldin was elected to Congress in 2014. He championed many important local priorities for his district, including the successful effort to save Plum Island, secure a large number of Army Corps of Engineers projects, tackle gang violence, and steer a $2 billion Electron Ion Collider to Brookhaven National Lab. He quickly became a prominent and outspoken national voice on U.S. foreign policy, border security, military affairs, combating antisemitism, and much more. 

Most recently, Zeldin sent shockwaves across the nation after nearly winning his 2022 campaign to become Governor of New York, receiving more votes than any Republican candidate statewide in 52 years. With Lee running strong at the top of the ticket, Republicans were able to flip several suburban House districts across the state which resulted in a Republican majority in the House of Representatives. He campaigned on delivering safe streets, upward economic mobility, and quality education, interacting directly with thousands of New Yorkers in inner cities, suburbs, and rural communities across the state. 

Lee has dedicated his life to public service, fighting for the issues that matter most to the people he has represented, and he looks forward to taking his experiences to give back to underserved communities in New York with Zeldin Cares™.