WASHINGTON – Navy veteran Francis Conole, who comes from a prominent Democratic family in Syracuse, plans to announce Monday that he will seek the party’s nomination to challenge Rep. John Katko in the 2020 election.

Conole, 40, of Syracuse, told Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard that he will file as a candidate Monday with the Federal Election Commission in Washington, allowing him to raise money for a potential Democratic primary election.

The Iraq war veteran said he left a job as a senior intelligence officer for the Department of Defense and moved back to Syracuse this month, where he plans to campaign full-time for Congress.

“I’ve been pretty much serving my entire life and fighting for what I believe are American values at home and abroad,” Conole said in an interview. “I thought it was time to fight for the needs of families in Central New York. This is my home. My family has lived here going on four generations.”

He said his campaign will focus on under-served people living in poverty, protecting the Affordable Care Act from Republican efforts to repeal it, and lowering the federal deficit. He plans to advocate for more investment in education, job training, healthcare and green energy.

Conole will be the second Democrat and military veteran to launch a campaign for Congress in the 24th Congressional District.

Roger Misso, a Navy veteran from Red Creek in Wayne County, declared his candidacy April 3 after moving from Washington, D.C. to Syracuse.

A third Democrat, Dana Balter, plans to announce her decision about entering the 2020 race at an event open to the public 6 p.m. Tuesday at the PressRoom Pub, 220 Herald Place, Syracuse.

Balter, 43, of Syracuse, won the Democratic primary election in 2018 but lost the November election to Katko, R-Camillus, by about 5 percentage points. It was the closest a Democrat has come to defeating Katko in three elections.

Conole will try to become only the second Democrat in 40 years to win the Syracuse-based congressional seat, hoping to blaze a trail similar to that of his late grandfather, former Onondaga County Sheriff Patrick “Packy” Corbett.

Corbett is the first and only Democrat elected to the sheriff’s post in the county’s history. He died in 1987 after serving as sheriff from 1964 to 1978. The Onondaga County Justice Center was named after him when it opened in 1995.

Conole, aware of the history of the congressional seat, said he met earlier this year with former Rep. Dan Maffei, the Democrat who served two non-consecutive terms representing Central New York after winning the 2008 and 2012 elections.

Conole also met with Balter to inform her of his decision to run for Congress, even if that means the two will meet in a Democratic primary election.

In Washington, Conole spent the last two years on the staff of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, serving as a policy adviser for the Middle East, focusing on Jordan, Lebanon and Israel.

The Westvale native graduated from Westhill High School in 1996 and the U.S. Naval Academy in 2001, three months before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

He served two tours of active duty, one on the destroyer USS Carney in the Middle East, and the other on a helicopter carrier, the USS Wasp. He also deployed with Army Special Forces to Iraq.

After leaving active duty to become a senior Navy intelligence analyst, he volunteered to be activated Dec. 1, 2008, to play a key role in Barack Obama’s first inauguration.

As assistant officer in charge of assembly for the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee, Conole helped organize more than 13,000 military and civilian marchers in the inauguration parade in Washington, D.C.

Conole now serves as a commander in the Navy Reserves, keeping a family tradition of service in the Armed Forces, law enforcement, teaching and social work.

He is the son of Bill Conole and Patricia Corbett Conole of Skaneateles. Bill Conole is a retired Army colonel who worked as a health administrator in Central New York. Patricia Corbett Conole is a teacher and former contributing writer for The Post-Standard, where she wrote the “House of the Week” feature.

New York’s 24th Congressional District covers all of Onondaga, Cayuga and Wayne counties, and the western half of Oswego County.

Contact Mark Weiner: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751