Opinion: Michael Gianaris’ transformation of the state Senate shouldn’t be overlooked

Mike Gianaris is one of New York’s 20 most influential politicians of the past 20 years. See the full list.

Here’s the thing: in the 400 years since Cervantes wrote about Don Quixote tilting at windmills, fighting the good fight and losing, we’ve all come to assume that those struggles are doomed to fail – it’s literally the definition of quixotic.

That’s why when President John F. Kennedy launched the moon race in 1962, he did it with analogies to other seemingly impossible tasks by asking: “Why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?” But just three years after that speech, Rice beat Texas 20-17. And nearly four years after that win, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon.

So, when thinking about Michael Gianaris’ influence over New York over the past 20 years, I immediately thought about the seemingly doomed, quixotic battles he took on and won. Of course, he never walked the moon, but the impact of his influence is felt every day.

Gianaris and I once shared an Albany apartment as young staffers far from home, so I have good stories from our 20s and know why he insists on being a Patriots fan (no, it’s not because he roots for front-runners – it’s because he took it personally when the Jets moved out of Queens, long before New England became the evil empire). But, ultimately, I can write about his impact because I’ve had a front-row seat to his career.

When Gianaris got to the state Senate, the Republicans had controlled the chamber for all but three years since Pearl Harbor. All the monied interests and many allegedly smart people in Albany believed that was the way it always would be. But after he became Democratic Senate Campaign Committee chair, not only did the party win a majority of seats in the next election, they won a majority of seats in six of the next seven cycles. In the past four elections, they won the four largest majorities in the Senate’s history.

Sure, at first a group of breakaway senators elected as Democrats collaborated with the Republicans to block the majority the voters thought they elected. So Gianaris and state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins set out to beat them. They enlisted both establishment Democrats and a not yet ascendant progressive community in that fight. And, a few hard-fought years later, that conference dissolved under pressure and all but two were beaten in Democratic primaries. This led to a unity between establishment Democrats, progressives and DSA members that defines the Senate majority to this day.

But his impact isn’t just about winning that majority – it’s what the Senate under Stewart-Cousins, with Gianaris as her deputy majority leader managing the flow of bills on the floor, did with that power. Since January 2019, the chamber has passed more than 10,000 bills. Sure, some (even most) were routine, but there’s an astounding amount of hugely important legislation. Freed from state Senate Republican control, New York enabled sexual abuse victims to receive justice, codified Roe v. Wade in state law, passed the state-level Dream Act, expanded access to vaccines and contraception, made voting easier, cracked down on gun manufacturers, passed the state’s Equal Rights Amendment, expanded LGBTQ+ protections, provided universal school meals and so much more.

Whether it’s those electoral victories, legislative achievements, taking on the $3 billion in tax incentives New York was set to shower on Amazon, helping cement New York’s role as a hub for film production or figuring out (while he was still in the Assembly) that Gov. David Paterson could end the Senate coup by appointing a lieutenant governor, Gianaris has spent the past two decades shaping New York’s government and politics.

Fittingly, Stewart-Cousins summed it up best in June when commemorating his years of service and his work as her deputy: “He’s never, ever lost sight of the opportunity to change things for the better. He’s never forgotten why almost 30 years ago he got involved in state government, and he’s never forgotten where he came from or the influence someone like him has on making change.”