Mason faculty weigh in on the Democratic party’s future
BY LOUIS VOLKER, COPY EDITOR
In the weeks since the Nov. 4 general election’s stellar turnout for Democrats, including a democratic sweep in Virginia, social media has exploded with excitement, anxiety and an abundance of political memes.
What began as Islamophobic assertions from critics of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani have transformed into enthusiastic memes from Mamdani supporters that jokingly idealize false claims made by his opponents.
On Instagram, conservative users like apparel brand @boldandbraveoutfitters make harsh criticisms of certain demographics that predominantly voted for Mamdani.
“NYC is a prime example of why women shouldn’t vote,” writes the account. “They preach ‘women’s rights’ but 84% of Gen Z voted in a man who refused to condemn Sharia law.”
In retaliation, other social media users seem to embrace ideas to antagonize conservatives, renaming NYC everything from “New Yorkistan” to “The New Islamic Republic of Mamdanistan.”
TikTok user @izzy.tube posted a video captioned “This is now a Halal state” poking fun at “What people think New York is gonna be like after Zohran Mamdani won.” The term ‘libbing out’ has become popularized online as people joke about living in “Zohran’s America.”
Media Theory instructor Joey Abdallah-Robbins said that humor can be a more effective rhetorical tool than direct arguments or insults.
“There’s kind of this gap in the armor that humor can find that other methods can’t, which I think is really interesting,” Abdallah-Robbins said. “It’s something disarming about it. That seemed to upset them in ways more than calling them a Nazi did.”
For clarity, Mamdani has repeatedly refuted claims that he will be instating Sharia law in New York City, joking in an interview with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show: “I will deliver universal childcare. I won’t require everyone to eat halal food.”
Associate Professor of Political Science Dr. Jennifer Victor said that the recent wins for Democrats are no surprise, especially after Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election.
“There is broad and deep dissatisfaction with Republican party politics,” she said. “A lot of voters, even those who swung towards Republicans, perhaps, in the 2024 election … [a] decent chunk of those folks are either now, like, disaffected and pulling back from politics and not participating, or have swung over and are expressing their dissatisfaction with executive overreach.”
The Nov. 4 wins can act as a short-term solution for Democrats to protect against gerrymandering that seeks to strengthen Republican control of the House and Senate. However, it won’t be a lasting victory if the party is unable to rally behind a clear direction for the 2026 midterm and 2028 presidential election.
Some criticize the Democratic party for being seemingly disorganized, citing split endorsements between mayoral candidates Mamdani and former Democratic governor of New York Andrew Cuomo, along with differences in policy between winning candidates such as Mamdani and Virginia governor-elect Abigail Spanberger.
Victor says that a diverse spectrum of opinions within the party is a strength, and that the Democrats are building a wide coalition.
“The infighting and all of the hooing and hawing about what we should be about has a lot of people pointing at it going, ‘Oh, Democrats are in disarray, a dysfunctional party,’ and I’m like, ‘This is fine,’” she said. “This is what you want parties to do. They don’t have to coalesce and come to a single point until they have to nominate a candidate, and they don’t have to do that until 2028.”
Abdallah-Robbins, who does not identify as a Democrat, blames the two-party system for party members’ dissatisfaction with their options for the future.
“I have to kind of hold my nose in a way that I may not have wanted to before, and say, you know, I’m gonna pick the lesser of greater evils, even if I think this is deplorable,” they said. “What’s the alternative? People don’t feel like they have one.”
“We don’t vote for our favorite candidate so much in this country as we vote against the person we don’t want to lead … That’s very disempowering, right? That isn’t how democracy should function,” Abdallah-Robbins said. “I want every election to be like, out of amazing things, they have all these great ideas and I’m struggling to pick one.”
No matter what direction the Democratic party goes in the coming years, Abdallah-Robbins is optimistic for the future of the country.
“I have a lot of hope for this country because I think that people recognize a really profound need for change, that we don’t like things the way they are, and that’s agreed upon regardless of your political position,” they said.
No matter what each person thinks about the Democratic party, they agree on one thing: voters must rally together to see the changes they want to make.
“We need to expect more out of these politicians… I don’t think that there’s anything inherently wrong with wanting a pretty radical restructuring of the way that things are,” Abdallah-Robbins said.
