Even before Mayor Bill de Blasio took office in 2014, there was conflict: then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo opposed de Blasio’s plan to enact higher taxes on the wealthy to fund universal pre-K.

Soon they would clash on a wide range of issues, from affordable housing to MTA funding. Most often, it was Cuomo flexing his authority. He once gave the mayor just a 15-minute heads-up before shutting down the city’s subway system.

He gave no heads-up about a plan to test self-driving cars in Lower Manhattan. “This announcement was done without any knowledge of the city of New York, and that’s unacceptable,” de Blasio said at a news conference in October 2017.

From de Blasio’s perspective, Cuomo was often not acting in the city’s interests.

“I think the governor should think very carefully about the fact that this city represents 43% of the population of the state, and is worthy of respect,” he told reporters after the conclusion of the 2016 legislative session in Albany.

But Cuomo often pointed blame at the city’s own mismanagement of problems like dilapidated public housing. “The NYCHA housing is as bad as anything I have seen. It is disgusting,” he said during a speech in April 2018.

“You can’t just show up after five years and suddenly act like the great white knight,” de Blasio shot back hours later.

But it was at the height of the COVID pandemic that the feud was on its most public display. The mayor and governor frequently failed to coordinate their efforts, presenting sometimes conflicting information on everything from quarantines to vaccine distribution.

On April 11, 2020, de Blasio had a weighty announcement to make: the city’s public schools would remain closed for the remainder of the school year. Later that same morning, Cuomo, asserting his legal authority, said: “There has been no decision. That’s the mayor’s opinion.”

If elected mayor, Cuomo would have to work with his successor, Gov. Kathy Hochul, who would enjoy a position of far greater authority — a dynamic unfamiliar to the former governor.