Marcus “Marc” J. Molinaro, confirmed last summer as the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) 16th Administrator, is stepping down Feb. 20.
He reported his decision on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter:
Molinaro, who previously served as U.S. Representative for New York’s 19th congressional district (2023-25), was nominated by POTUS 47 in February 2025 for the top FTA job. The U.S. Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee advanced his nomination in April for full Senate consideration. Molinaro succeeded Nuria Fernandez, who retired Feb. 24, 2024.
A member of the Republican Party, Molinaro was first elected to public office at the age of 18 in 1994, serving on the Village of Tivoli, N.Y., Board of Trustees. In 1995, he became the youngest mayor in the United States. He was re-elected as Tivoli Mayor five times. Simultaneously, he served four terms in the Dutchess County Legislature. From 2006 to 2011, Molinaro represented the 103rd District in the New York State Assembly, where he served as Assistant Minority Leader Pro Tempore. In 2011, he was elected Dutchess County Executive, a position he held for three terms. In 2023, he stepped down from this role following his election to Congress. Molinaro is a graduate of Dutchess Community College.
Now, after less than a year, he will leave the POTUS 47 Administration “to run for a backbench seat among the Republican minority in the New York State Assembly, according to four people directly familiar with his plans,” The New York Times reported Feb. 13. “The potential move from a position that oversees a staff of more than 600 to an office with about six aides is highly unusual in the world of politics, where ambition typically leads in only one direction, up.
“Prominent leaders on the right in New York said on Friday [Feb. 13] that they were baffled by the decision, which was first reported by Politico, particularly given the fact that Mr. Molinaro, 50, had graduated from the Assembly to higher office 15 years ago.”
According to the Times, Molinaro “did not directly comment on his political future, but late Friday [Feb. 13] he posted on X to say he would leave the [POTUS 47] administration next week to ‘get back into the fight.’”
The newspaper said that “[p]eople familiar with Mr. Molinaro’s thinking said that his reasons for leaving the [POTUS 47] administration were mostly personal. After a lifetime in elected office, he missed having his own constituency. They also said the commute from his home in the Hudson Valley to Washington had been difficult for his family. … They stressed that Mr. Molinaro, who had been a relative moderate during his one term in Congress, was not leaving because of disagreements with [POTUS 47] or his administration.”
The Times noted that the “people in question were not authorized to speak publicly about Mr. Molinaro’s plans because he remained a federal employee, subject to Hatch Act restrictions on partisan political activity.”
