[2] In 1994, he won election to the Connecticut House of Representatives in a contest for the 138th District seat being vacated by Republican Mark Nielsen, who was running for the State Senate.

[3] In 1998, Cappiello announced he was vacating his seat in the Connecticut House to run for the State Senate in the 24th District, where Mark Nielsen was retiring to challenge freshman Congressman James H. Maloney.

[4] In the legislature, Cappiello’s priorities included open space and environmental preservation, support for non-profit service providers, public safety, and health care reform.

[5] A strong fiscal conservative, Cappiello was tapped in 2005 to serve as the ranking Republican member of the General Assembly’s Appropriations Committee, which is responsible for writing the state’s biennial budget.

[7] On April 18, 2008, David Cappiello filed a campaign committee with the Federal Election Commission to challenge Democratic U.S. Representative Chris Murphy.

The Washington Post’s political blogger Chris Cillizza named Cappiello one of the "Top 2008 Recruits",[10] and in October 2007, Cappiello was included in the NRCC’s Challengers Helping Obtain the Majority Program (CHOMP) [11] to help raise funds for select candidates challenging incumbent Democratic members of Congress.