[5] Following law school, Gounardes worked for Councilman Vincent J. Gentile as a constituent aide,[6] and later as Counsel to Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.

[7] Gounardes formerly served as a trustee of the New York City Employees’ Retirement System,[8] and as a member of Brooklyn Community Board 10.

[9] Following Hurricane Sandy in 2012, Gounardes, along with Justin Brannan, founded the nonprofit Bay Ridge Cares, which assisted local residents with disaster relief.

[11] In a traditionally politically conservative area, Golden proved to be a popular incumbent due to his name recognition and strong constituent services.

[13] However, in 2018, Golden faced scrutiny after it was publicized that he had failed to pay a number of parking tickets, and was illegally posing as a police officer to run red lights.