Michael Gianaris

Michael Gianaris (born April 23, 1970) Nicholas and Magdalene Gianaris. He graduated from New York City (NYC) public schools P.S. 84, Junior High School 141 and Long Island City High School. He received a B.A. summa cum laude in economics and political science from Fordham University and earned a J.D. degree from Harvard Law School. in District 36. He is a Democrat.

In September 2007, he was named one of City Hall's "40 under 40".

New York State Senate In 2010, Senator George Onorato decided not to seek re-election, and Gianaris was nominated to replace him. Gianaris won the general election with 81% of the vote.

In 2019, following Senate Democrats' ascent to the majority, Gianaris was named Deputy Majority Leader of the Senate.

Gianaris was principally responsible for scuttling a proposal to locate Amazon's HQ2 in New York City. Gianaris has been noted for his support for antitrust enforcement, having introduced the "21st Century Antitrust Act" in the New York State Legislature and written in support of the federal American Innovation and Choice Online Act proposal.

In February 2026, Gianaris announced he will not run for reelection. Instead, Gianaris resigned early on August 7, 2026. There will be a new representative representing the senate district in January 2027.

Other campaigns Gianaris ran for Attorney General of New York in 2018, but ended his campaign in May 2018 and endorsed fellow Democrat Letitia James.

Political positions

Education In May 2024, Gianaris and Andrew Hevesi lobbied for $70 million for school safety equipment in religious and independent schools in the 2024-2025 state budget. they initially lobbied for $90 million but negotiated to $70 million.

Voting rights In 2018, he introduced legislation to automatically register eligible voters otherwise interacting with state government.

In September 2023, governor Kathy Hochul signed his senate bill to expand early mail-in voting for all New Yorkers. Republican groups, including republican congresswoman Elise Stefanik, attempted to challenge this expansion but a state appellate rejected it and affirmed the law.

Gun control In the 2023-2024 legislative session, Gianaris sponsored a bill to prohibit openly carrying a rifle or shotgun. Gianaris co-sponsored other bills such as S4818 which establishes a 10-day waiting period to buy a firearm.

Congestion pricing Gianaris alongside Zohran Mamdani lobbied for $90 million in additional bus funding before congestion pricing took place to split half of it to fund more fare-free bus lines and the other half for increasing bus reliability. In response to Governor Kathy Hochul reversal on her support and implementation of congestion pricing, Gianaris opposed a payroll tax that was floated to replace the funding not generated by congestion pricing. He stated their reaction of her reversal "This whole thing was just dropped on us just yesterday and to expect us to have serious, substantive, deliberative discussion on such an important issue in 24 hours is unrealistic" and that "We put the burden on New York City to bail out the MTA just last year with this exact tax and I don’t think many of us who represent the city support doing it again".

Policing reform Gianaris has supported bail reform and the elimination of cash bail.

Personal life Gianaris is married and resides in Astoria.