New York City was once the epitome of aspiration, a global symbol of possibility and prosperity. If you can make it there, Liza Minnelli sang in 1977, you can make it anywhere. Last week the voters of NYC delivered their verdict: you can’t make it there. Possibly not anywhere. It’s no longer up to you, New York, New York.

Kathy Lette declared the election of Mamdani “an inoculation against pessimism”. Credit: AP

The election of a 34-year-old democratic socialist as mayor of New York has been called many things. “People-powered”. A “youth quake”. A triumph of “luxury beliefs”. And the “revolt of the credentialled precariat”. Australia’s unofficial ambassador to “royals and rockers”, Kathy Lette, declared this election “an inoculation against pessimism … and antidote to the right-wing rhetoric of Trump & selfish co”.

In Australia, it could be called something else: familiar. We’ve already had two rounds of this revolution – the first in 2022 and the second in 2025.

The US voters who elected Mamdani have a lot in common with the Australians who gave their votes, hopefully or strategically, to the teal-branded “voices of” franchise. In both cases, post-election analyses reveal that the largest bloc of voters electing these political disruptors were university-educated, middle- to upper-income renters.

According to a CNN exit poll, Mamdani significantly outperformed his main rival, Democrat candidate Andrew Cuomo, with voters who had a bachelor’s or advanced degree, while Cuomo led among........

© The Age