The Daily Show’s host-of-the-week, Desi Lydic, took a break from all things Minneapolis on Wednesday to welcome New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill to Comedy Central to gush over her recent executive order to order price controls for utilities.
Lydic lobbed a softball Sherrill’s way when she wondered, “You ran very strongly on affordability for the people of New Jersey, and you wasted no time. Day one, signed two executive orders, addressing utility rate hikes. Is that right? Why focus on utility costs, and how does something like that work? Walk us through that.”
The Daily Show's Desi Lydic cheers on New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill's utility price controls, "You ran very strongly on affordability for the people of New Jersey and you wasted no time, day one, signed two executive orders, addressing utility rate hikes. Is that right?" Later… pic.twitter.com/pXwvhuVywb
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) January 29, 2026
Sherrill then recalled her campaign and first days as governor:
So I was speaking to thousands of New Jerseyans during my campaign, and the number one issue, not surprisingly, was affordability. And it was key in several areas, and one of those areas that just seemed like there was no relief was in utility costs, electricity costs. We know the utility companies have made billions over the last several years. We know that our grid operator has really not done a good job getting power to the grid. We know the state hasn't acted in a way to expand power generation, drive costs down, and yet, all of these problems kept getting dumped on the ratepayers. So, I said, you know, ‘I am freezing that. I am going to freeze rate hikes’ and I told people, ‘I'm not messing around. I am not doing, like, a 10-year study, I'm not, you know, writing a strongly worded letter.’
Lydic was all for it, “Thank God. Thank you! Would you please tell Chuck Schumer? Chuck Schumer needs to hear that.”
Sherrill agreed, “Yeah, I was sick, after Congress, of strongly worded letters, exactly. So, I kept hearing people that were like, ‘Yeah, Mikie, everyone says they are going to do X, Y, or Z.’ So, it finally got to the point where I'm like, ‘You guys are driving me crazy.’ That is a common feeling in New Jersey, but I said, ‘Okay, you know, I will show you.’ I didn't even wait until my inaugural address was over. In the middle of it all, I said, ‘All right, guys, sick of the status quo, me too, here it is.’ And then we signed the executive orders.”
Lydic made sure to emphasize the point, “Right in the middle of your inauguration speech. Didn’t even wait ‘til it was—. Just got it done.”
Part of the reason for New Jersey’s energy problems has been that it has shut down various coal and nuclear plants. This has been exacerbated by former Gov. Phil Murphy’s desire to move to 100 percent renewable energy by 2035, which Sherrill supports. Her price control solution is the historically proven policy to go to when you want to create shortages.
Here is a transcript for the January 28 show:
Comedy Central The Daily Show
1/28/2026
11:26 PM ET
DESI LYDIC: You ran very strongly on affordability for the people of New Jersey, and you wasted no time. Day one, signed two executive orders, addressing utility rate hikes. Is that right?
MIKIE SHERRILL: That's right.
LYDIC: Why focus on utility costs, and how does something like that work? Walk us through that.
SHERRILL: Sure. So I was speaking to thousands of New Jerseyans during my campaign, and the number one issue, not surprisingly, was affordability. And it was key in several areas, and one of those areas that just seemed like there was no relief was in utility costs, electricity costs. We know the utility companies have made billions over the last several years. We know that our grid operator has really not done a good job getting power to the grid. We know the state hasn't acted in a way to expand power generation, drive costs down, and yet, all of these problems kept getting dumped on the ratepayers.
So, I said, you know, "I am freezing that. I am going to freeze rate hikes" and I told people, "I'm not messing around. I am not doing, like, a 10-year study, I'm not, you know, writing a strongly worded letter."
LYDIC: Thank God. Thank you! Would you please tell Chuck Schumer? Chuck Schumer needs to hear that.
SHERRILL: Yeah, I was sick, after Congress, of strongly worded letters, exactly. So, I kept hearing people that were like, "Yeah, Mikie, everyone says they are going to do X, Y, or Z." So, it finally got to the point where I'm like, “You guys are driving me crazy.”
LYDIC: Yes.
SHERRILL: That is a common feeling in New Jersey, but I said, “Okay, you know, I will show you.” I didn't even wait until my inaugural address was over. In the middle of it all, I said, "All right, guys, sick of the status quo, me too, here it is.” And then we signed the executive orders.
LYDIC: Right in the middle of your inauguration speech. Didn’t even wait ‘til it was—. Just got it done.
SHERRILL: Got it done.
