Michael Gianaris (born April 23, 1970) is an American politician and attorney from

Queens, New York Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

. He represents New York's 12th State Senate district, which includes the

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long Is ...

neighborhoods of Astoria,

Long Island City Long Island City (LIC) is a residential and commercial neighborhood on the extreme western tip of Queens, a borough in New York City. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; New Calvary Cemetery in Sunnyside to the ...

, Sunnyside and parts of Woodside,

Maspeth Maspeth is a residential and commercial community in the borough of Queens in New York City. It was founded in the early 17th century by Dutch and English settlers. Neighborhoods sharing borders with Maspeth are Woodside to the north; Sunnyside ...

, Ridgewood and Woodhaven. He is the second Greek-American to be elected to the New York State Legislature after

Dean Skelos Dean George Skelos (born February 16, 1948) is an American former politician from Long Island, New York. A Republican, Skelos served in the New York State Assembly and later represented the Ninth District in the New York State Senate from 1985 ...

. Since 2019, he has served as the Deputy Majority Leader, the second-highest ranking member of the Senate.

Life and education

Gianaris was born in Astoria and is the son of Greek immigrants, Nicholas and Magdalene Gianaris. He graduated from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

(NYC) public schools P.S. 84, Junior High School 141 and

Long Island City High School Long Island City High School, commonly abbreviated L.I.C. or LICHS, is a public high school in Long Island City, Queens, New York City. The present building was built in 1995. The school had an enrollment of around 2,500 in 2015. Demographics As ...

. He received a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

''summa cum laude'' in economics and political science from

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

and earned a J.D. degree from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class i ...

. In 2000, he was elected to the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assemb ...

. Gianaris had previously served as Associate Counsel to the Committee on Consumer Affairs and Protection, Governmental Operations, Veterans Affairs, and Agriculture and Markets of the Assembly, and also served as an aide to former

Congressman Thomas Manton, an aide to former Governor

Mario Cuomo Mario Matthew Cuomo (, ; June 15, 1932 – January 1, 2015) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 52nd governor of New York for three terms, from 1983 to 1994. A member of the Democratic Party, Cuomo previously served as ...

's Queens County Regional Representative, and as a member of Queens Community Planning Board 1 and Legal Counsel to the United Community Civic Association. In September 2007, he was named one of ''

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

s "40 under 40" for being a young influential member of NYC politics. He is divorced and resides in Astoria.

New York State Senate

In 2010, Senator George Onorato decided not to seek re-election, and Gianaris was nominated to replace him. In a strongly Democratic district, Gianaris was elected easily, and has never faced a serious re-election. In 2018, Gianaris was seen as the architect in helping to eliminate the Independent Democratic Conference and in creating a roadmap for Democrats to take the majority in the state Senate, which was successful. Following their ascent to the majority, Gianaris was named Deputy Majority Leader. Gianaris supports bail reform and elimination of cash bail. He has introduced a bill which would give judges three options in lieu of cash bail: release on recognizance, conditional monitored release, or remand to a correctional facility. Gianaris introduced legislation to automatically register eligible voters otherwise interacting with state government, something which is already implemented in 14 states and Washington, D.C., including in states such as California, Alaska, and West Virginia. He also has proposed allowing "eligible voters to register and cast a ballot on Election Day". It would require amending the state constitution. Gianaris was the principal figure in the cancelling of Amazon's HQ2 in NYC. Gianaris has been noted for his support for antitrust enforcement, having introduced the "21st Century Antitrust Act" in the

New York State Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an official t ...

and written in support of the federal American Innovation and Choice Online Act proposal.

References

External links

New York State Senate Member WebsiteGreek News - Michael Gianaris Quits Race for Attorney GeneralMike Gianaris Calls on DMV to Reinstitute Greek Language Tests
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gianaris, Michael N. 1970 births Living people Democratic Party members of the New York State Assembly Democratic Party New York (state) state senators Fordham University alumni Harvard Law School alumni American politicians of Greek descent 21st-century American politicians People from Astoria, Queens