24 Facts About Vito Fossella

Vito Fossella announced on his official website on May 20 that he had chosen to serve out the remainder of his term, which ended on January 3,2009, but decided not to run for re-election.

Vito Fossella was born on Staten Island into a Roman Catholic family of Irish and Italian descent.

One of his uncles, Frank Vito Fossella, was a prominent Staten Island Democrat who was a City Council member in 1985.

Vito Fossella, the fourth of seven children, was a basketball player at Monsignor Farrell High School, where he got his first political experience in the student council.

Vito Fossella briefly played violin and percussion with the Christian pop band Sonseed.

Vito Fossella attended Iona College in New Rochelle, then transferred to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in economics in 1987.

Vito Fossella had a daughter out-of-wedlock in 2005 with retired Lt.

In 1990, Vito Fossella changed his voter registration from the Democratic Party to become the family's first Republican.

Vito Fossella replaced Councilman Alfred C Cerullo III, who had left to become Commissioner of Consumer Affairs in the Rudy Giuliani administration.

Vito Fossella spent $92,000 in the election, in which he had five opponents.

In November 1994, Vito Fossella was reelected to the remaining three years of Cerullo's term, defeating Democrat Rosemarie Mangano.

In June 1997, Vito Fossella was selected by executive committee of the Staten Island Republican Party as its candidate to run for the Congressional seat being vacated by Representative Susan Molinari.

Vito Fossella won the special election in November 1997, defeating Democratic Assemblyman Eric Vitaliano with 61 percent of the vote.

In November 1998, Vito Fossella won a full term with 68 percent of the vote.

Vito Fossella was reelected in 2000, winning 65 percent of the vote against Democrat Katina M Johnstone even as Al Gore carried the district.

In 2004, Fossella faced his first close contest against former state assemblyman and judge Frank J Barbaro.

Barbaro won the Brooklyn portion of the district by seven points, the first time Vito Fossella had not won that area; Barbaro had represented much of this area in Albany for 23 years.

Vito Fossella was considered a possible challenger to Mayor Michael Bloomberg in the 2005 election, but he chose not to make the race.

Details of his arrest led to the revelation that Vito Fossella, a self-proclaimed "family values" politician, had kept a secret second family in Washington, DC, including a three-year old child that he had fathered out-of-wedlock.

Vito Fossella voted for the Marriage Protection Act in 2004 and for the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2004 and 2006, all of which would nationally define marriage as between a man and a woman.

In 2005, Vito Fossella spoke out against the Bush Administration's handling of appropriating Homeland Security funds.

In March 2021, Vito Fossella announced that he was running for Borough president of Staten Island.

Vito Fossella was endorsed by Donald Trump and won the Republican nomination in July 2021.

Vito Fossella was elected borough president after defeating opponents Mark Murphy and Leticia Remauro.