EPA Administrator Michael Regan may be entering an uncertain period in his career that has been centered on environmental policy and public service so far.
Regan will be leaving the agency for sure if the Republican White House nominee, former President Donald Trump, emerges victorious in the fast-approaching election. But he could stay on if the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are elected and opt to keep senior officials from the Biden administration on board.
What Regan will do next remains unknown. Allies of the administrator say he has a bright future no matter what direction he chooses.
Former Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), who considers Regan a friend, told POLITICO’s E&E News, “He’s smart, he’s very talented, and I think he has many options.”
The ex-congressman, now a senior adviser for federal public affairs at McGuireWoods, said if Harris prevails in November, “I would love to see him continue to be EPA administrator under the Harris-Walz administration.”
“If not that, I would like to see him go into corporate, into the renewable energy space, and if not that, maybe become a head of an energy think tank,” Butterfield said of the 48-year-old EPA leader.
Like other former EPA administrators, heading out on the lecture circuit or taking posts in academia or business could be those options.
Gina McCarthy, the EPA head under President Barack Obama, took charge of the Natural Resources Defense Council, a pillar of the environmental movement. Lisa Jackson, who was McCarthy’s predecessor at the agency, is a vice president at computer giant Apple. And Andrew Wheeler, who led EPA under Trump, is now partner and head of federal affairs at Holland & Hart.
“I think he will have ample choices from the private sector. Maybe a public company, to running for office, to running an NGO,” said Carol Browner, EPA’s head during the Clinton administration, about Regan’s future.
Asked what he would recommend Regan do next, William Reilly, who led EPA under President George H.W. Bush, said the administrator may want to vie for elected office in his home state.
“I had heard before he has a reputation in North Carolina of having political ambitions,” Reilly said. “He might want to take a couple of years to have a paying job and bolster his connections politically in the state and have a crack at that.”
Former EPA staffers who were granted anonymity to discuss Regan’s plans said they think the administrator will leave the agency after the election, even if Harris wins, and go into the private sector. A run for public office may come later.
“If he does go back into private sector work, it would be at a high level and he would get paid,” said one ex-aide.
But others were more uncertain. Regan may be drawn to serving in Harris’ administration if she wins the White House.
“I think the administrator has worked with the vice president more closely than a number of other Cabinet members,” said another former EPA staffer.
EPA spokesperson Nick Conger directed E&E News to prior comments Regan made about his plans, including whether he was interested in being part of a potential Harris administration.
“I’ve learned not to get out ahead of any conversations I’ve had with the president and the vice president,” Regan said at an event in July.
The Harris campaign, when contacted for this story, referred E&E News to the vice president’s office. A press official there didn’t respond to an inquiry.
A run for office?
Regan started his EPA career as an intern, rising at the agency to be a national program manager tasked with reducing air pollution. The Goldsboro, North Carolina, native then joined the Environmental Defense Fund, where he was the group’s Southeast regional director.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) named Regan secretary of the state’s Department of Environmental Quality in 2017. The Senate confirmed him in 2021 as President Joe Biden’s EPA administrator.
Regan, the first Black man to lead the agency, has been in the national spotlight as EPA has drafted aggressive regulations on air, climate and water as well as served as a central funding hub, flush with billions of dollars, for the Biden administration’s push to aid marginalized communities burdened with pollution.
“I think he’s been transformational in his role as the administrator of U.S. EPA,” said Vernice Miller-Travis, a longtime environmental justice advocate. “It just feels like they are aligned with mission, purpose and resources and political will from the White House.”
Reilly said Regan “really must know and understands the large expenditures that are occurring in the infrastructure law and the [Inflation Reduction Act].”
“EPA is going to be in the middle of all that stuff,” said the former administrator. “He dealt with governors and mayors in the places where it’s being laid out, and he will have had all the problems that involves.”
Last year, there was speculation Regan would leave EPA and enter the North Carolina governor’s race. That run did not materialize, but there could be a campaign in his future. After all, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) will be up for reelection in 2026.
Calling the buzz around Regan running for governor “the rumor mill,” Butterfield said, “I don’t deny that someone may have mentioned that to the administrator about the possibility of running for governor, but I don’t think that’s in his wheelhouse.”
The former lawmaker added Regan — who was spotted at the Democratic National Convention last month — has not mentioned to him a Senate race in 2026.
Being an ex-EPA administrator has not been a springboard for electoral success. Douglas Costle and Scott Pruitt ran for public office after leaving the agency but both were defeated in party primaries.
Others have considered politics but chose not to pursue that path. Reilly was approached to run for the Senate in 1994 while Browner met with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to consider running in 2000.
“I just really liked running a big agency, making decisions that have really critical impact, opposed to being one of a hundred voting on something, so I decided not to do it,” Browner said.
Or stay at EPA?
Only once in the agency’s more than 50-year history has a sitting vice president won the White House. In the “friendly takeover,” then-President George H.W. Bush decided to retain some of former President Ronald Reagan’s Cabinet and other top officials.
Then-EPA Administrator Lee Thomas was not of those to stay after the 1988 election. He moved on from public service to private business.
“Working at EPA was clearly the highlight of my 20-year government experience,” Thomas said.
Regan could face the same scenario if Harris defeats Trump. Biden appointees could be asked to stay put, especially if the Senate flips to GOP control, making it more difficult to confirm new nominees.
Thomas said only two people decide whether one continues to serve in the next administration: the individual and the president. “Those two people determine what happens,” he said.
Browner stayed on at EPA for former President Bill Clinton’s second term, becoming the agency’s longest-serving administrator. “I loved the job,” she said.
Browner remembers meeting with Leon Panetta, then the White House chief of staff.
“Basically, he said, ‘Would you like to stay? The president would like you to stay.’ And I said I’d be honored to,” she said.
During the Biden administration, Regan and Harris have often collaborated together. They have worked on providing electric school buses, rebuilding water infrastructure and standing up financing for developing renewable energy.
The vice president and the administrator “have a strong and productive working relationship,” said Conger with EPA.
The agency spokesperson added, “She was a driving force behind EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, and she has championed our work to remove every lead pipe in this country.”
Miller-Travis, executive vice president at Metropolitan Group, a social change agency, said the two have worked closely on implementing the environmental justice aspects of the Inflation Reduction Act.
“They’ve been a great pair, and they’ve done a lot of stuff together. They know each other. They’ve worked together,” she said.
Miller-Travis also wants Regan to stay on if Harris is elected president.
“I just hope he wants to hang in a little longer because there’s still things on his agenda at EPA that they haven’t been able to do yet,” she said.
Reporters Timothy Cama, Emma Dumain and Sean Reilly contributed.
