Andrew Gounardes is a champion for the working class and middle class families that are the backbone of New York.

Born and raised in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, Andrew believes government should help people not just get by, but truly thrive. His approach to public service is rooted in family, faith, community, and a simple ethic he learned as a child: when something needs doing, someone needs to step up and do it.

A fourth-generation Greek-American, Andrew inherited from his family the values of service, responsibility, and philoxenia—a Greek concept meaning love of strangers and an obligation to care for others. Those values guide his work in public office.

Whether it’s fighting to win universal childcare, investments in public transit, or protections for workers, Andrew has built a reputation as an effective legislator who delivers real results for New Yorkers. He’s been a leader on street safety, passing measures that have saved lives and made neighborhoods safer for pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers alike. He has emerged as a national leader on child online safety, passing landmark laws to protect kids from addictive social media algorithms, predatory data collection, and digital exploitation.

Andrew has also worked tirelessly to make life less expensive by pushing to build affordable housing, reduce utility costs, and pass laws that put money back in families' pockets. He’s proposed game-changing legislation like the New Deal for CUNY and SUNY, a historic effort to make public higher education tuition-free, hire more faculty, and uplift New Yorkers into the middle class. He believes affordability is about results, not slogans: lowering the cost of housing, childcare, education, and the basics that make it easier for New Yorkers to make ends meet. 

At a time when a hostile federal government is threatening our rights, Andrew stands unapologetically with New York’s most vulnerable. He’s introduced the New York For All Act to protect immigrant families from deportation, passed laws to strengthen the rights of freelancers and other workers, and won landmark protections for survivors of sexual assault, stalking and harassment. He’s also worked to hold the powerful to account, introducing bills to close tax loopholes and ensure big corporations and the ultrawealthy pay their fair share to support New Yorkers.

As a State Senator, Andrew is known for taking on complex problems and working across institutions to get things done. ​He’s passed more than 100 bills into law, including legislation to close loopholes in the state’s wage theft law, expand life-saving speed cameras, guarantee family death benefits for public workers who died from Covid-19, and help expand benefits for 9/11 responders. He has played a key role in budget negotiations, advanced major policy reforms, and stood firm on his principles even when it was politically difficult.

Across his community, Andrew and his staff are on the ground providing help to neighbors with problems big and small. His work reflects a belief that leadership means being thoughtful, prepared, and willing to take responsibility, especially in uncertain times like these.

Andrew proudly serves the neighborhoods from Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights to Downtown Brooklyn and Vinegar Hill. He still lives in Bay Ridge with his wife and their three children, and remains deeply committed to the community that shaped him—and to building a New York where everyone has the chance not just to stay afloat, but to thrive.