The Agenda

Even as Suffolk County begins the process of counting absentee ballots, which are expected to be weighted toward the growing Democratic enrollment in the 1st Congressional District, Republican Lee Zeldin appears to have locked down a fourth term in office.

He will return to a Capitol that has changed a bit. He will find some positives, as the Republicans made surprising headway in reducing the Democratic Party’s dominance of the House, though they remain the minority party. The Senate is still GOP, at least for the time being. But he’s got significant new headwinds: A strong supporter of President Donald Trump, he will find, despite the desperate machinations taking place, a Democrat sitting in the Oval Office soon enough.

This will be a pivotal time for Mr. Zeldin, who now must choose between continuing to be a slavish acolyte of a Trump regime in exile, hoping for a revival, or begin to truly earn the “bipartisan legislator” tag he speaks so proudly of. Even critics must acknowledge that Mr. Zeldin can get things done; that’s been easier when he had access to powerful ears. Now, he’s got to change strategy: He has to prove to Democrats he’s not a daunting enemy but a trusted ally. It will be a tall order.

There are a few items on his to-do list. Nothing is more important than the COVID-19 crisis, and it’s entering a crucial phase, with treatments and vaccines starting to near emergency use. Until then, cases are soaring everywhere, as impatient citizens strain to return to normalcy and begin to drop their guard.

Mr. Zeldin has been truly effective in meeting the need for equipment and supplies locally, but it should be noted that the demand was kept in check by a populace that, perhaps more widely than some other pockets of the country, followed the rules. This dark winter could bring very new challenges.

Following the lead of the president, Mr. Zeldin declined to wear a mask at an indoor political rally in Oklahoma — exactly the opposite of the example he should be setting. He should being passionately emphasizing the need to wear a mask in public and to socially distance, to try to undo some of the damage being done by his Republican colleagues nationally, who insist on trying to politicize a simple, effective response to a health care crisis. Flu shots also play a key role in keeping the region’s hospital system functioning properly this winter, and it’s another message he can help underscore.

There’s also the economic impact of the pandemic, and it’s time for a few more Republicans to cross the aisle and take up the cause of getting relief to individuals, businesses and local governments devastated by the fallout. The gridlock on this issue is appalling, and it will take sane, sensible voices to fix. Lee Zeldin has an opportunity to be one of them.

That’s already a full plate, but there is so much more.

With the change at the top, there is an opportunity to undo the punitive damage of the caps on the SALT deduction, which President Trump gleefully used to damage blue states. Yes, New York’s local taxes are higher than some other states — but that’s because New Yorkers pay their own way. We are a donor state when it comes to the federal government; low-tax states are highly subsidized by the federal government. Limiting the deduction for state and local taxes paid simply made this disparity more severe and taxes more unbearable. Mr. Zeldin wishes to point a finger at Governor Andrew Cuomo on this issue, but when he points he has three fingers pointing back at him. It’s time to move past the political rhetoric and truly make a change for his 1st District constituents that matters.

Mr. Zeldin’s region, more than most, will be battered by climate change in the coming years. His inconsistencies on the subject have to be eliminated, and it’s time for him to become a voice of clarity on the right when it comes to the inescapable science. It’s going to strike in his backyard first, and hardest. It would be unconscionable for him to ignore the realities — and something worse if he takes up a position questioning its legitimacy.

There is more, but one item on the agenda is of the highest urgency.

This is a time when Trump insiders need to demonstrate that their support for America exceeds their support for the president himself. Only someone with real bona fides as a member of the Trump team can speak truth to power at a moment when the foundations of our democracy are shuddering. It’s easier to tell the president what he wants to hear — that this election was not a reflection of the true feelings of the electorate, and that the adoration of his supporters was undermined by a stolen election — than the truth: You lost. Fair and square.

Someone needs to be there to tell President Trump that there is a bigger picture here, not just for him but for the country, and his actions in the next few weeks carry immense weight.

If Lee Zeldin does nothing else, he should both privately and publicly deliver a clear message: It’s time to concede and face reality.