TAX THE RICH
We broke the NYC budget open
$5.3 Billion
DEFICIT ERASED
2
MILLIONAIRE POLITICIANS DEFEATED
75,000+
PIED-À-TERRE TAX
0
BUDGET CUTS
The Story
We won the battle to elect Zohran — but then the real war began. That meant taking on New York’s billionaire-backed Governor Kathy Hochul, who controls whether or not the state taxes the rich and had virulently pledged not to. To deliver on Mayor Mamdani’s campaign promises, that would have to change.
The Challenge
Days before our launch, a giant wrench was thrown in the works. The deficit left by the previous Mayor, Eric Adams, threatened to force legally mandated cuts. And if Hochul’s original state budget passed, she and her City Council ally, Speaker Julie Menin, would force Mayor Mamdani to oversee cuts to libraries, hospitals, and other critical public services. This kind of setback has brought down new left-wing governments around the world, and threatened to shake the confidence of the base and Mamdani’s credibility.
Our other problem: Budget decisions are usually made out of sight, using backroom negotiations behind closed doors and technical language that keeps the public out until it’s too late to shape the outcome. We were tasked with getting everyday New Yorkers motivated, involved, and passionate about a bureaucratic process that we were never meant to understand or pay attention to.
How We Won
As with our approach in the mayoral race, we embraced dual roles: (1) simplifying the stakes, and (2) leading the attack against our opponents.
The budget process is baffling, even to insiders. But we’ve defeated Kathy Hochul in a budget fight before, so we knew what it would take. While Mayor Mamdani’s media operation deftly sold his positive vision, the Mayor’s public détente with Governor Hochul meant it was up to outsiders to attack her.
Challenge accepted.
Our mission was to break the opaque and obscure state process out of the political bubble, and turn Mamdani’s momentum into public pressure. To do so, we made complex policy digestible and delivered regularly updated messaging memos and content toolkits to be used by everyone from local DSA leaders and elected officials to non-political culture-first creators nationwide.
Through a coordinated messaging campaign, our campaign made it clear that any cuts or broken promises would be Hochul’s fault (alongside her City Council Speaker, who we dubbed “Millionaire Menin”). By May, Hochul herself was complaining about this narrative to the press.
Campaign Rollout
NEW MEDIA
The influencer armies enlisted by our DREAM campaign served a double purpose: organizing externally by activating audiences outside of politics, and organizing internally by spreading our core messaging effectively. Because a budget fight is more complicated than simply “vote,” these trusted voices became even more crucial.
We turned events — like the Bernie Sanders Tax the Rich rally — into a week-long social media cycle reaching millions, all highlighting Kathy’s Cuts. And we created two new original content series: Carla Marie’s weekly Tax the Rich Report series and the Tax the Rich Quiz Show with the original Zohran creator, Cassie Willson. Both helped fuel additional partnerships with dozens of creators, including Hasan Piker, Jess Craven, Jordan Uhl, and Edna the Runt as well as organizations like the Patriotic Millionaires — ultimately topping 17 million impressions in May alone.
CAMPAIGN CLASSICS
A heightened focus on vertical video content left an opening for something else: good old-fashioned physical advertising.
Rather than the generic templates commonly seen in Albany, we bombarded our onlookers with visually arresting messages you couldn’t scroll past, including:
News-making billboards that the Governor was forced to drive past every day, pointing out just who would be responsible for any destructive cuts
Citywide wheatpasting that launched copycat designs and provoked responses from legislators — including Millionaire Menin, who announced support for taxing the rich a day after her neighborhood was surrounded with posters
A first-of-its-kind LinkNYC campaign that made waves from Manhattan to Japan
MERCH MADNESS
To rally our base, inflame our opponents, and raise funds for the expanded campaign, we dropped the defining uniform of the Mayor’s first 100 days: the Anti-Billionaire Socialist Club sweatshirt. With Hasan Piker and the Majority Report starting two right-wing panics that spread our message far and wide, we raised nearly $50,000.
To counter Kathy Hochul’s flawed claim that taxing the rich would cause an exodus — a rationale disproven by data — we needed to break through the noise. We designed “Tax Me, I’m Rich” sweatshirts and gave them to wealthy and well-known New Yorkers, flipping the script and creating a mini-campaign that challenged billionaire opposition, including hedge fund manager Ken Griffin, a leading billionaire adversary who openly threatened retaliation if taxes on the wealthy moved forward.
$50,000+
TAX THE RICH MERCH SOLD
To counter Kathy Hochul’s flawed claim that taxing the rich would cause an exodus — a rationale disproven by data — we needed to break through the noise. We designed “Tax Me, I’m Rich” sweatshirts and gave them to wealthy and well-known New Yorkers, flipping the script and creating a mini-campaign that challenged billionaire opposition, including hedge fund manager Ken Griffin, a leading billionaire adversary who openly threatened retaliation if taxes on the wealthy moved forward.
Top podcaster Jennifer Welch and multimillionaire Morris Pearl demanding Kathy Hochul tax them more on I’ve Had It podcast
(And yes, the “Tax Me, I’m Rich” campaign is beginning to grow beyond New York City — so watch this space.)
The Win
Less than six months into Mamdani’s first year, we proved taxing the rich was possible — and made it happen.
By harnessing mass pressure to move the Governor (and letting the Mayor take a friendlier approach):
- Kathy Hochul went from immovable refusal to “proudly” approving a first-of-its kind pied-à-terre tax
- City Council Speaker Julie Menin made a complete pivot, calling for $1 billion worth of taxes on the rich
- NYC closed its deficit without any major cuts, saving the city from austerity and the Mamdani mayorship from permanent damage.
This is just the beginning. We proved we can channel newly activated New Yorkers beyond the ballot box, and into the most inaccessible recesses of the halls of power. So next year? We go on offense.