The path to Zohran Mamdani’s pledge of universal child care runs through Albany, where the Democratic nominee for mayor has a major ally in Gov. Kathy Hochul.

While they’re both in lockstep on the goal, they don’t agree on the most important part of making no-cost child care a reality: how to pay for it.

Hochul, a moderate Democrat who endorsed Mamdani’s campaign last month, has pointed to the issue of universal child care across the state and city as one where they see eye to eye. But Mamdani, a state assemblymember, wants to raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations to pay for it, which Hochul has traditionally opposed.

The funding battle highlights the uneasy partnership between the two Democrats as they try to forge a political alliance despite hailing from different generations a

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