After graduation, Andrea went to work in her community providing literacy, numeracy and ESL training to workers in Hamilton and co-op Housing in Welland.
In the early 1990s Andrea accepted a job at a Community Legal Clinic as a Community Development Co-ordinator, the only position of its kind in the province. Because of her effectiveness as a grassroots organizer and as co-chair of Hamilton's Coalition for Social Justice, Horwath was chosen by the city's community based groups and organizations to be the Community Co-chair of Hamilton's highly successful Days of Action campaign in 1996, against the Conservative government cutbacks. It is estimated that some 100,000 people took to the streets of Hamilton. Andrea was honoured as Hamilton's Woman of the Year in Public Affairs that same year.

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As a three-time elected City Councillor for downtown Hamilton, Andrea brought passion and practicality to the often bare-knuckle municipal politics of Hamilton between 1997 and 2004.

Throughout her municipal career, Andrea was the voice for the community, bringing new amenities and upgrading services to her community - a health centre, recreation centre, immigrant services and help for disadvantaged people. She find novel uses for city owned property to better serve high needs neighbourhoods that lacked facilities. After the toxic Plastimet fire in Hamilton, Andrea helped to rejuvenate the site into an impressive public space, Jackie Washington Park.

Andrea's experience in City government taught her how to get results by working with people for positive change.

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Upon arriving at Queen's Park, Andrea continued to focus on achieving results that matter to people.

Andrea's Bill 111, the Bob Shaw Act, led to compensation for firefighters who become seriously ill due to toxins at fires such as Plastimet, pegged the worst environmentally toxic fire in Canadian history when it raged in 1997. There is strong hope that the bill Horwath pioneered in memory of Lori Dupont, to outlaw workplace harassment and violence, will meet with the same acceptance. Her intervention spurred an Ombudsman's investigation and the subsequent "What's In a Name" report on the failings of the Family Responsibility Office, obtained government funding for the Toronto Woman Abuse Council, the 50th annual Canusa games and the North Hamilton Community Health Centre.

As Children and Youth services critic, Andrea is the staunchest ally of not-for-profit child care expansion. She forced a formal debate on keeping commercial big box child care operators out of Ontario. Her groundbreaking Bill 26 was widely supported by the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care.

Andrea has also worked hard as a Caucus Member to support the party across the province, including serving on Ontario's NDP Provincial Executive and representing the NDP at a multitude of community and political events. She has been a proud New Democrat for over two decades.

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