Hochul under pressure from DSA to tax the rich immediately after winning second term

Socialists are moving immediately to squeeze Gov.Kathy Hochul on taxes — even as political insiders argue her re-election on Tuesday was owed more to anti-Trump backlash than to a surging left-wing in the Empire State.The Democratic Socialists of America’s New York City chapter — which saw a record-number of its members win election to the state Legislature — will turn up the heat on Hochul over hiking taxes on the wealthy and other issues, including expanding free childcare and raising the minimum wage.“I’m hopeful that Hochul has seen the energy, the excitement that can come from the masses of people who want and deserve a better government, and she takes those lessons and brings them to Albany, and is braver than she has been in past years in terms of standing up for working class New Yorkers,” NYC-DSA co-chair Grace Mauser told The City Reporter on Wednesday.Jasmine Gripper, co-executive director of the lefty Working Families Party, echoed the NYC-DSA’s demands, telling the outlet it would take the fight to Albany during the upcoming budget season.“We will only accept a budget that is equitable and taxes the ultra-rich so that working families can thrive and children have what they need,” Gripper said.Hochul ran on the WFP line in addition to being the Democratic standard-bearer, but was never endorsed by the NYC-DSA, which has long needled her to “tax the rich.”The far-left group even broke with its de-facto leader Mayor Zohran Mamdani after he endorsed Hochul’s re-election bid, accusing her of siding “with her billionaire donors while offering working class New Yorkers crumbs.” Mamdani still attempted to rally his base to back the moderate incumbent, stumping with her in New York City and even crowing that Hochul “has embraced new ideas” during state Democrats’ election night watch party.The crowd at the NYC-DSA watch party in Astoria, Queens, meanwhile, started chanting “tax the rich” after Hochul’s definitive 20-poi...