Staff Reports
Navy air combat veteran, aviation safety expert and commercial airline pilot Curtis Calabrese wants to bring his dedication to service to Palm Beach County Hall.
He’s running for the County Commission’s District 4 seat with the hope of supplanting its current occupant, Marcia Woodward.
So far, they’re the only two candidates in the 2026 race, county records show.
“I’ve spent my entire adult life serving my country, and now I’m ready to serve my community,” he said in a statement. “I’ll bring the same mission-driven leadership that I’ve shown in the cockpit and on combat deployments to the County Commission.”
A Boca Raton native and a graduate of the city’s eponymous high school, Calabrese earned a degree in systems engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy. He later earned a master’s degree in aeronautics and a Ph.D. in psychology with a focus on justice and regulatory systems.
As a Navy combat aviator, he flew global missions tracking down terrorists and locating downed airliners, his campaign said. He then served as a Navy legal officer, department head and aerospace engineer, leading multidisciplinary teams, overseeing flight safety programs and advising senior leadership on ethics, law and operational risks.
After leaving active duty, Calabrese joined the Federal Aviation Administration as an Aviation Safety Inspector, leading more than 100 accident and incident investigations. During the 2019 government shutdown, he became a prominent public voice advocating for aviation inspectors to remain on duty, appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live and earning widespread respect in the aviation community.
Today, he works as a United Airlines captain and Director of Operations at Altivion Aviation.
Calabrese, 35, promises to bring a moderate perspective to the County Commission. He’s been a registered Democrat in Florida since 2022, when he briefly ran for Congress. State records show he was previously registered as a Republican.
He told Florida Politics that he grew up in a “very Republican” Boca Raton family, registered as such when he came of age and kept it that way during his time in the Naval Academy and active service. But by the time he was honorably discharged and registered for a driver’s license in California in 2018, his position had changed, and he checked the box next to “Democrat” on the form.
“I’m fiscally conservative but socially liberal. I’m gay, and I served under Barack Obama while I was at the Naval Academy, and that’s when the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy was overturned,” he said.
“But serving my first four years, I had to be in the closet, and as politics started to change, I realized the Republican Party just didn’t reflect who I was and still doesn’t reflect who I am.”
He hopes to bring a steadfast voice to the seven-member County Commission, advocating for public safety, strong infrastructure, responsible growth and ensuring the smart spending of taxpayer dollars.
“(My) community deserves a Palm Beach County Commissioner who leads with integrity, makes decisions based on data and common sense, and delivers results for the community, not just partisan talking points,” he said.
District 4 spans a coastal, southeastern portion of Palm Beach County that includes all or part of Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, Golf and Lantana. Woodward, a Republican, flipped the district seat red in November 2022, when she upset the then-Democratic incumbent, Robert Weinroth, with 52% of the vote.
That was a marked underperformance in a district Gov. Ron DeSantis “carried by double digits,” Calabrese’s campaign said.
