 In 2000, he was elected to the New York State Assembly.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 Queens Congressman Thomas Manton, an aide to former Governor Mario Cuomo'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"'s "40 under 40" for being a young influential member of New York City politics.