As mayoral candidates respond to the exodus of families with children from New York City – one of several symptoms of a citywide cost-of-living crisis – expanding access to child care has emerged as a consensus issue in the Democratic primary. But only state Sen. Zellnor Myrie is pushing for universal after-school, a sweeping plan that some experts say may be tricky to implement due to its projected cost and scale.

While Myrie isn’t considered a mayoral frontrunner — he’s polling in the low single digits, and his middle-of-the-pack fundraising has slowed in momentum — he’s among a group of insurgent candidates to Mayor Eric Adams’ left that voters might include on their five-person, ranked-choice ballots to ward off the current mayor and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is leading voter polls. Myrie is emphasizing after-school with an urgency similar to how former Mayor Bill de Blasio stressed the need to expand pre-K, hoping that like de Blasio, he’ll be able to break out with a signature issue that taps into parents’ needs.