Notable personal detailsJohn Cappello is a Democratic candidate for the U.S. House in New York's 17th Congressional District. He is a retired U.S. Air Force officer with more than 25 years of service, including as a B-1 bomber pilot and assignments in Ukraine and at U.S. embassies in Israel and Serbia. He graduated from the United States Air Force Academy with a major in political science and a minor in Russian area studies, earned a master's degree in political science from Wichita State University, and pursued additional graduate study in Middle East studies at Tel Aviv University. After government service, he worked at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and Spirit of America.