Krazy Kat can’t read a room to save her political life — or congestion pricing

Never underestimate Gov. Kathy Hochul’s ability to misread the room — as in her talks of reviving congestion pricing in the aftermath of last Tuesday’s red wave.

She actually says she wants to “protect” New Yorkers by reviving the toll in Midtown before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in late January.

Fearful that Trump and a Republican Congress will kill the money grab, Hochul is mulling implementing a $9 toll, instead of the $15 one she “paused” in June.

Yet she only hit the pause button at the 11th hour after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) demanded it, rightly fearing that commuter furor over the charge would doom Democratic candidates in suburban House seats.

But that fury will still kick in if she moves ahead: Per a Sienna poll in August, 59% of New York voters want to scrap congestion pricing entirely.

Is Hochul really betting that anger will fade before the next election, or maybe the one after?

It’s a terrible bet.

Look: Pausing the charge (and some careful gerrymandering) did let Democrats pick up three New York seats — but Empire State voters also shifted massively from 2020 to 2024, 12 points statewide to Donald Trump.

Who, incidentally, promised to kill congestion pricing, and may well still do so even if she does “unpause” it — meaning Democrats would take another hit to their reputation without actually collecting the cash.

Even with the pause in place, Hochul’s favorability numbers hit an all-time low of 34% in September, with a job approval rating of 39%.

Fine, she needs to find money for the MTA, but she’s also got a $230 billion state budget to find it in, not to mention ways to cut the agency’s costs.

We guarantee: If these tolls kick in, New York Democrats will pay a terrible price.