He was a 9/11 responder and an NYPD officer. But can he flip Staten Island congressional seat blue?

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — “My résumé looks like spaghetti being thrown against the wall, but it actually makes a lot of sense,” said Michael DeCillis, a Democrat running for Congress, as he reflected on a career that has taken him across public service.

That impulse toward service has deep roots. DeCillis grew up on stories of his maternal great-grandfather, Thomas J. Cusack, who worked as a dispatcher for the New York Fire Department in Richmond County in the early 1900s.

His grandparents and parents were educators, city workers and union members, a family tradition that he said shaped his understanding of work, public service and Staten Island itself.

“Our family history here, working, living and being political, has been here for 130 years,” DeCillis said. “[His grandfather] became a union dock worker back in the late 1930s and it allowed him to actually be able to afford rent and be able to basically just support the family.”

DeCillis was raised on Grimes Hill and in Westerleigh, where his parents still live. He currently resides in Brooklyn.

In 1993, he graduated from Kalamazoo College in Michigan with degrees in music composition and piano performance. During his college years, he became a volunteer EMT and attended paramedic training at night. After graduation, he joined the workforce as a New York City EMS paramedic and worked as a nationally certified SWAT medic.

In September 2001, DeCillis’ call to service shifted. He was a first responder during the 9/11 attacks, where he worked through the next day, before being evacuated himself due to respiratory and eye injuries.

Later that year, DeCillis joined the New York Police Department, working out of Manhattan’s 23rd Precinct in East Harlem.

Nearly a decade into his service and following a move to Bay Ridge, he was responding to a call when his vehicle was involved in a crash with another police car. The collision left him with shoulder injuries that led to his retirement from patrol work, he said.

During his time in the NYPD, DeCillis attended New York Law School, becoming a civil litigator for the department. He enjoyed the work, but said he missed the daily contact with communities that had defined his earlier years.

DeCillis joined the NYC Teaching Fellows and received his master’s in education from Hunter College, where he specialized in special education, particularly with students with autism. From there, he began working at PS 188 in Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

Entry into politics

After five years in the Department of Education, DeCillis became increasingly involved in local and federal issues, especially after the 2016 election.

“Contrary to what most people think, it wasn’t Trump or anything coming up that did it. It was our local politics. It was looking at our local slate and looking at the people who were running, and consistently, they’re not getting any attention,” he said.

In 2018, DeCillis ran for Staten Island’s congressional seat, facing multiple other Democrats in the party primary. Although unsuccessful, that campaign marked the beginning of a deeper political career.

DeCillis eventually became chief of staff for 46th New York State Assembly District in Brooklyn. There, he co-authored legislation addressing state-required minimum curriculum for policing, abuse protections for nonverbal students and budget transparency. He also served as an assistant counsel in New York City’s districting commission for almost two years.

DeCillis attempted a second run for Congress again in the 2022 race, but dropped out of the election early, almost six months before the primary.

In 2024, when President Donald Trump was reelected, he began pushing again, organizing a Medicaid rally in front of Rep. Nicole Malliotakis’ office, which had more than a hundred protesters.

Over the course of 2025, he organized district town halls as well as two “No Kings” events.

For DeCillis, the most important part was ensuring that people knew all were welcome at these events, no matter their party affiliation.

“We didn’t attach ourselves to any groups because we wanted the widest amount of people to be involved,” he said. “Because what was happening affected everybody. It didn’t just happen to any Democrats or Independents or Republicans.”

He announced his latest congressional run last week, setting up a potential primary matchup with career educator Troy McGhie and union electrician Allison Ziogas, who announced her campaign during an event Tuesday night.

The winner will face Malliotakis, the Republican incumbent, in November.

Priorities

As his political involvement deepened, DeCillis began to articulate a set of core beliefs that now anchors his 2026 congressional campaign.

“I believe all human beings are equal, and apparently that is a radical left statement nowadays. I don’t view compassion as a weakness. I think that government has an important role in creating a floor under which nobody falls,” he said.

His platform includes ensuring stronger social safety nets, more equitable access to health care, and a more progressive tax structure that funds public schools and services. He also says his approach to governing would be collaborative and constituent-focused, as well as budget-conscious.

If elected, DeCillis said his three priorities would be putting guardrails on democracy, reinstating the Department of Education and reducing the tax burden on most residents

Can he win on Staten Island?

When asked about Staten Island’s Republican dominance, he stated that there is a lot more diversity in beliefs than some may think.

“Being in the community, and listening to what people are talking about, I think that this is a ripe opportunity,” he said. “There’s a tremendous group of people who normally are not involved in this process at all, who want to be and they’re looking for some type of leadership, and they’re looking for inclusion, and they want to be heard.”