Zohran Mamdani backers in Manhattan rally for mayor-elect's campaign pledges

As tourists sipped hot cocoa and sampled wool gloves at Manhattan’s Union Square Holiday Market Sunday, across the way, chants of "tax the rich" echoed through the area.

Hundreds gathered at a rally organized by the New York City Democratic Socialists of America to celebrate Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s victory and demand Gov. Kathy Hochul support his plans to tax the wealthy and secure free public child care.

"Across the city, billionaires treat this place like a playground, while working-class people scrounge for their dignity," said Christian Celeste Tate, a democratic socialist from Brooklyn running for the New York Assembly in 2026.

"Today it’s child care, tomorrow it’s health care. The day after that, it’ll be housing," said Tate, among several candidates and elected leaders who spoke at the rally. "And we will not stop until this world revolves around the workers who build it."

Mamdani’s campaign to make New York City more affordable, with promises of free city bus service and child care, garnered him global stage attention and more than 1 million votes in an election this month that brought the most people to the polls since 1969. Mamdani has said he would keep those promises, in part, by raising taxes on the wealthy and large corporations.

Critics have said Mamdani’s promises are too lofty to make a reality and that raising taxes on the wealthy would drive people out of the city.

"You would see New Yorkers on I-95 fleeing to Florida," said mayoral candidate and former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in a debate last month with Mamdani and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa.

Making Mamdani’s plans a reality will hinge on support from Hochul and the Democratic-run State Legislature in Albany.

Hochul and state lawmakers have voiced support for parts of Mamdani’s agenda, including expanding child care. But Hochul, who is up for reelection next year, opposes the idea of raising taxes on the wealthy.

Mamdani said last month he would "absolutely" drop his call for increasing taxes if lawmakers could find other revenue sources to fund his programs.

Alex Rivera, a DSA volunteer who attended the rally, said he was skeptical about Hochul supporting Mamdani’s agenda because of "corporate donors," but remained hopeful.

"She will always side with real estate and corporations unless her job is at risk," said Rivera, 31, of Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

New Yorkers have an opportunity in the voting booth when Hochul seeks reelection next year, he added.

"You gotta do this for us," Rivera told Newsday, referring to Hochul, "otherwise we might not help you defeat whoever’s challenging you for governor."

Speakers at the protest Sunday pledged to support taxing the city’s wealthiest residents to make it more affordable for everyone. New York City is home to the most billionaires in the world, with 123 worth a combined $759 billion, according to Forbes.

Eon Huntley, another Brooklyn candidate for state Assembly who spoke at the rally, said the rise in billionaires is forcing more families to leave the city.

"We can stop this displacement," Huntley told the crowd. "We can do it by making child care free, making buses free. ... Health care should be free also. There’s not a reason why, in the richest city in the richest country in the world, that we should have to worry about anyone going broke because they got sick."