Michael DeCillis

Michael "Mike" DeCillis began volunteering as a teenager at St. Vincent's, the Staten Island hospital where he was born.¹ He describes himself as a fourth generation Staten Islander and third generation union member, from a family of educators and city workers.¹ While attending Kalamazoo College, he became a volunteer emergency medical technician and trained as a paramedic.¹

After college, he worked as a SWAT paramedic and field training officer in Michigan, developing an emergency care program for police dogs.¹ He later served for a decade in the NYPD and earned a law degree at New York Law School while working as an officer.¹

His career also includes civil litigation and work as a chief of staff and director of legislation in the State Assembly.¹ Through a teaching fellowship and a master's in education at Hunter College, he moved into special education, teaching students on the autism spectrum in New York City's District 75 schools.¹

He is the 11th District's Democratic candidate.² DeCillis supports a single payer healthcare system, stronger investment in public schools, universal gun background checks and an assault weapons ban.³ He also calls for abolishing ICE, protecting constitutional rights and reducing working families' tax burden while asking billionaires to pay more.³