Gov. Kathy Hochul is barely a week removed from celebrating Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral victory — and New York’s ascendant left is already threatening to take her down.

At a raucous “Tax the Rich” rally in Union Square on Sunday, the Democratic Socialists of America and top progressive lawmakers delivered a blunt message to the governor: embrace the incoming mayor’s sweeping tax increases on the wealthy, or prepare to be replaced.

“Kathy Hochul, if you get a third strike, you’re out!” shouted state Sen. Jabari Brisport, drawing cheers from hundreds of activists. Brisport accused the governor of repeatedly blocking his universal childcare legislation and made clear the left’s patience had run out. “There’s no way to get universal child care without raising taxes on the rich. If she blocks it, then she has to go.”

The warning comes as lawmakers aligned with Mamdani move aggressively to capitalize on his upset win. State Sen. John Liu and Assemblymember Phara Souffrant Forrest introduced legislation last week authorizing a 2% surcharge on incomes over $1 million — a tax they say could generate up to $4 billion annually for housing, childcare, transit and healthcare.

DSA co-chair Gustavo Gordillo framed Mamdani’s mayoral win as a mandate for Albany to fall in line. “Twelve days ago, over one million voters made it very clear what we want,” he said. “Raise taxes on the rich.”

Hochul, who endorsed Mamdani in the general election, now finds herself boxed in. She has publicly vowed to hold the line on income taxes and rejected efforts to raid MTA funding to subsidize Mamdani’s free-bus plan — putting her in direct conflict with the incoming mayor’s agenda and his newly empowered movement.

But she’s also facing a brutal reelection fight next year, likely against Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, while navigating a Democratic conference increasingly terrified of left-wing primaries.

Meanwhile, business leaders are already raising alarms. Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, incoming head of the Partnership of the City of New York, blasted Mamdani’s proposed corporate tax hike — from 7.3% to 11% — as “absolute suicide,” warning it would drive employers across the Hudson overnight. “An absolute dream for New Jersey,” he said.

State Senate Deputy Majority Leader Mike Gianaris, however, pledged to use his influence to push the Mamdani agenda, calling universal childcare and free buses “important and necessary.”

That leaves Hochul squeezed between an emboldened socialist movement demanding billion-dollar revenue hikes and a business community warning of economic catastrophe — all as her political base fractures.

The fight over Mamdani’s tax plan may be months away, but the message to Hochul is already unmistakable: New York’s left won November — and it intends to govern like it.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)