Gov. Mikie Sherrill - Affordability and Protection for New Jersey | The Daily Show

What this episode is about

Governor Mikie Sherrill discusses her transition from Congress to her new role as governor of New Jersey, emphasizing the increased ability to effect change without the gridlock typically found in Washington. Highlighting her platform centered on affordability and protection for New Jersey residents, she expresses enthusiasm for taking direct accountability and setting a clear path forward for the state.

Key takeaways

• In just eight days, she embraced accountability—who knew being a governor had less gridlock than Congress?
• Signed two executive orders on day one: actions speak louder than political promises, especially in New Jersey.
• Utility rates skyrocketed, not because of lack of funds, but from inaction—she's freezing the hikes, ice cold.
• Battling federal dysfunction by prioritizing state action—when D.C. fails, it's up to governors to step up.
• A former Navy pilot turned governor—watch out, New Jersey, she’s got the command and the 'get it done' attitude.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Desi Lydic (Host) · 6 min speaking
• Mikie Sherrill (Guest) · 10 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 3:00: Mikie Sherrill, New Jersey (Jersey)
2. 3:00 – 6:00: New Jersey (Jersey)
3. 6:00 – 9:00: Gateway Tunnel Project
4. 9:00 – 12:00: New Jersey (Jersey), Gateway Tunnel Project
5. 12:00 – 15:00: New Jersey (Jersey)
6. 15:00 – 15:55: Mikie Sherrill, New Jersey (Jersey)

Notable quotes from "Gov. Mikie Sherrill - Affordability and Protection for New Jersey | The Daily Show"

• I love the idea that it rests with me, that I can chart that course and that I can figure out a path forward for New Jersey.

  about New Jersey (Jersey) · at 2:05

• We are not going to allow any ICE raids to be staged from state properties.

  about Mikie Sherrill · at 7:08

• You are passionate about this infrastructure project, the Gateway Tunnel Project, right?

  about Gateway Tunnel Project · at 7:56

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Mikie Sherrill — Person · Main guest (interviewee) / Governor-elect being interviewed · 3 mentions · first at 1:39
  Central subject of the segment: discusses her election win, early executive orders on utility rates, and conflicts with the federal government (ICE/DHS actions and Gateway Tunnel funding).

Places & events

• New Jersey (Jersey) — Place · Setting · 9 mentions · first at 1:41
  Primary location discussed in the episode, focusing on state governance and infrastructure projects.
• Gateway Tunnel Project — Event · Core topic · 3 mentions · first at 7:58
  Key infrastructure project discussed, highlighting federal-state conflicts and economic impact.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 First of all, I just want to say thank you so much for braving the congestion pricing to get here. It really means a lot to us. Thank you. Yeah. It is so wonderful to have you here. Congratulations. Thank you. Huge win, landslide win. You have such an impressive resume-- former Navy helicopter pilot, federal prosecutor, served in Congress, first woman veteran ever to be elected governor.

0:36 You've been on the job for eight days now. But you-- you served in Congress for eight years. How are you adjusting to the freedom of actually being able to get shit done? Quite well. Quite well. I'm loving it. Yeah, it is lovely. I don't have to work with the Freedom Caucus. DESI LYDIC: Hey. So that's a benefit. And you can actually chart out a plan and execute it. Who knew? Right? Which is really a joy, really a joy. Was that part of the inspiration for wanting to run for governor, just the fact that it is so-- Congress is so gridlocked sometimes?

1:14 Congress is so gridlocked, usually sometimes, and now so gridlocked all the time It is-- it is really a difficult place, which I think the people that are there now, working so hard to just hold the line until we can take back power in November, which I'm very excited about. I'm so impressed with them. But you're exactly right. I probably should stop saying this. But when I told people I wanted to run for governor of New Jersey, their first inclination was, please don't. Because we need you in Congress? Well, and because they said, look, why would you do that?

1:55 The buck stops there. You're so accountable, you know. You can sort of-- in Congress, there's 434 other people. And I said, that's what I love it. I love the idea that it rests with me, that I can chart that course and that I can figure out a path forward for New Jersey. So that's what drew me to it, actually. And yeah, my first eight days, great. So far so good. Hey. 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.

2:33 Is that right? That's right. Why focus on utility costs? And how does something like that work? Walk us through that. 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. And speaking to a couple, like Herb and Mary, who are on a fixed income and their utility bills had doubled-- I was hearing that across the state.

3:07 It's not just an impact on homeowners or renters. It's an impact on small businesses who have small margins and are just trying to make it. So it was really an issue that was impacting people across the state. It was getting worse and worse. And there was no relief in sight. So I said, look, I'm going to stop dumping this on the back of the ratepayer. 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.

3:36 We know the state hasn't acted in the way to expand power generation, drive costs down. And yet, all of these problems just kept getting dumped on ratepayers. So I said, I'm freezing-- I'm freezing that. I'm going to freeze rate hikes. And I told people, I'm not messing around. I'm not doing, like, a 10-year study. I'm not writing a strongly worded letter. And I just-- DESI LYDIC: Thank God. Thank you. Would you please tell Chuck Schumer? Chuck Schumer needs to hear that. Yeah. I was sick, after Congress, of strongly worded letters.

4:11 Exactly. So I kept hearing people, though, that were like, yeah, Mikie, everybody says they're going to do X, Y, or Z. So it finally got to the point where I'm like, all right, you guys are driving me crazy. I mean, that's a common feeling in New Jersey. But I said, OK, you know, I'll show you. So I didn't even wait 'til 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. Right in the middle of your inauguration speech.

4:40 Didn't even wait 'til it was-- just got it done. Got it done. Don't you-- I mean, why work so hard right out of the gate? Don't you want to just lower expectations in the beginning? Just over-- you know, you can overperform later. No, that's very, very impressive. And I think it definitely sends a strong message. I want to ask you about the fact that it feels like, right now, that our federal government is failing us in so many ways, and people are turning to the states to protect them. We have what's happening in Minnesota right now, the horrific events that have happened there.

5:20 We have DHS sending memos saying that ICE can come into people's homes without a warrant. I imagine you're steadying yourself to have to face the administration. How do you prepare for something like that to protect the people in New Jersey? So I served all over the world in the Navy. And I've seen what secret police forces look like or the fear certain populations live under. And I'll say, I knew where this was headed when we started to see DHS people taking loyalty oaths to the president, not the Constitution. We saw people in the street with masks and no insignia, so not accountable at all, hiding from the population.

6:05 And we saw again and again an undermining of what law enforcement should do to keep people safe. And so I saw where this was going. But to come to the point where someone like Renee Good, a mother of three, who drops her six-year-old off in her Honda Pilot and gets shot and killed, to see someone like Alex Pretti, who was an ICU nurse at the VA-- I saw his official photo. And I've seen a million of those, you know, with the flag in the background. I know those guys. And I saw it again when you watched the video and you see him standing up to protect those women from tear gas.

6:45 And he gets taken to the ground, sat on, basically, by three agents, and then shot point blank, execution style, by not one, evidently, but two different ICE officers thought that they could shoot him in the street like that. That is unacceptable. And so you're exactly right. I've already met with AG We are putting out information on helping New Jerseyans know their rights. We are not going to allow any ICE raids to be staged from state properties. And we are also going to be standing up a portal so people can upload all their cell phone videos and alert people.

7:21 Like, if you see an ICE agent in the street, get your phone out. We want to know. Because-- --they have not been forthcoming. They will pick people up. They will not tell us who they are. They will not tell us if they are here legally. They won't check. They'll pick up American citizens. They picked up a five-year-old child. We want documentation, and we are going to make sure we get it. DESI LYDIC: Great.

7:51 You're in another showdown with the federal government right now. You are passionate about this infrastructure project, the Gateway Tunnel Project, right? That sounds so funny, but yes. She's so-- guys, she's so hot for tunnels. Super hot for tunnels, this governor. Federal funds were allocated for this project. And then President Trump came in and froze those funds. Is that correct? That is correct. I would say illegally, seeing as how Congress has denoted those funds for the Gateway Tunnel Project, yes. DESI LYDIC: So as governor, what can you do about that now?

8:25 Can you unfreeze those funds? Well, that's exactly what I'm working to do. So I have a call in to Trump-- I haven't heard back from him yet-- to flag for him that this is about 100,000 jobs in the region-- and by the way, his numbers aren't looking so good in that area-- that this could be about $40 billion of economic impact to one of the most important regions economically in the world, certainly in the nation. And this could have such a just good impact on infrastructure, on actually effectively running government, which doesn't seem to be something he's that concerned about.

9:05 But I do think he should listen to me. I think he should listen to me because I just won back all his voters. So I think-- Exactly. I think the conversation would be a good one. Is it true that New Jersey gives-- did you say $70 billion in federal funds to the-- in state loans-- That's just what we don't get back. --to the government? What? We send $70 billion more to the federal government than we receive back. DESI LYDIC: Than you receive back. Than we receive back. So the fact that now the federal government is attempting to cut the Gateway Tunnel Project, that they are cutting healthcare funding, that they are cutting education funding, that they are doing these made-up investigations to try to hold off more funding in different areas of the state-- it's just, at this point, we're looking at ways to claw back as much funding as possible.

10:01 Because if we are going to send that much money to the federal government and they're not going to actually do their job, then what are we paying for exactly? Exactly. Well-- I think it's a fair question. That's what I was going to ask you. Can you withhold the New Jersey taxpayer dollars and not pay the federal government? I mean, it's a two-way street, right? It's very hard to do. We have been looking at every way. And most of that's clawback. It's in the courts. That's how we're going to fight, should the president not see reason, you know, how we'll be fighting this, likely.

10:40 But at the end of the day, I'm also-- I think we are in a time where we have to rethink some of how this is operated. We haven't been at a time in my lifetime where the federal government actually is acting to attack states. That is unusual, to say the least. And so I think we need to start looking at expanding. This is a time when I think we're going to see a large expansion of state power, because the states are the rational actors in this space, taking care of people, funding good programs. And the more effective that we can run our states-- and we've seen some really effective leadership in many of our governors-- that, I think, is where we will see good results for the country.

11:21 Oh god, I hope so. I have to just acknowledge and congratulate you on your win. You won by 14 points. 14.4. But, you know, I don't think everyone's-- DESI LYDIC: No, we're counting. We're counting. Who's counting, right? Who's counting? Won by 14 points. You moved every district to the left. You clawed back all the demographics that Democrats lost last time. Your election is looked at as kind of a bellwether for the midterms, potentially, giving Democrats a lot of hope. If you had any advice to the Democratic Party for the upcoming midterms, what would you tell-- what would you tell them?

11:59 Listen. You know, that's where you start every good campaign, is listening to as many voters as possible. And I think over time, people in politics have gotten real cute about doing all this modeling over who are voters or who aren't. You got to talk to everybody. I was at an event. And there was-- we had heard all these stories-- and I have four kids, two teenage boys. And we'd been hearing all these stories about how Trump is making so many inroads into teenage boys. And I told my sons. I said, you got to watch it.

12:34 It's all over social media. People are after you guys, and you have to be smart. And my youngest said, don't worry, Mom. I'm a lib. And I'm like-- I'm like, good-ish? So-- so I was at this event, you know, hundreds and hundreds of people there. And I'm talking to the event. And out of the corner of my eye, there's this group of teenage boys. And they're, like, taking all these selfies. And they're going like this. And I'm thinking, are these guys trolling me? Like, is this-- like, what-- what's going on here, you know?

13:10 And sure enough, I said to the event organizer-- I said, you know, who are these young men? And she said, oh my gosh, they love you. They have knocked thousands of doors. DESI LYDIC: Aw. And that's my reaction, right? Like, oh my gosh. And that's what we wanted. I mean, we were trying to get to everybody. Because that's bringing everyone together around this vision for the future. And the people that we most need to engage are our kids. DESI LYDIC: That's right. And that's where I think-- that's when I felt like, wow, we are really creating something special here.

13:44 If-- I still haven't gotten my own teenage sons to come to these events. But-- DESI LYDIC: One day. - But we'll know-- One day. It's amazing how it doesn't matter how accomplished and impressive you are as a mom, you're never cool to your kids. You can-- there's nothing you can do to be cool. That is correct. That is correct. I have a 13-year-old daughter. And that keeps you humble. It does. Oh, god love our children. Good lord. Before I let you go, before I let you go, I just wanted-- I want to play a quick game with you, if you're willing.

14:18 It's a New Jersey game, rapid fire. I'm going to ask you some questions, and you have to choose one. I'm going to name two New Jersey things, and you have to pick which one. OK? These are hard-hitting questions, all right? No softballs for you, Governor. All right. What's more New Jersey, Tony Soprano or Snooki? Ooh. So Sopranos was filmed in my congressional-- my old congressional district. So I'll say Tony Soprano. DESI LYDIC: Oh, yeah, Tony Soprano. OK. Great answer. What's more New Jersey, hating New Yorkers or hating Pennsylvanians?

14:52 Hating New Yorkers. Hating New Yorkers. Aw aw. OK. What's more New Jersey, Wawa or diners? Oof. Oh jeez. DESI LYDIC: Oh, no. Oh my god. All right. I'm going to say diners because the disco fries. So I'm going to have to go with diners. OK. I can get on board with that. What's more, New Jersey going, oh! Or going, come on! And you have to do both. Oh! DESI LYDIC: There it is. - Come on! - Yeah. OK OK. But which one is your favorite? I'm going to get her to say it again. Which one's your favorite? - Come on! Yeah. Come on!

15:31 Come on! Come on! Come on, Governor. It was so wonderful to have you here. Congratulations on everything. Oh, Governor Mikie Sherrill.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Gov. Mikie Sherrill - Affordability and Protection for New Jersey | The Daily Show"?

Desi Lydic (Host), Mikie Sherrill (Guest).

What is "Gov. Mikie Sherrill - Affordability and Protection for New Jersey | The Daily Show" about?

Governor Mikie Sherrill discusses her transition from Congress to her new role as governor of New Jersey, emphasizing the increased ability to effect change without the gridlock typically found in Washington. Highlighting her platform centered on affordability and protection for New Jersey residents, she expresses enthusiasm for taking direct accountability and setting a clear path forward for…

What is mentioned in this The Daily Show episode?

3 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Mikie Sherrill, New Jersey (Jersey), Gateway Tunnel Project. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Gov. Mikie Sherrill - Affordability and Protection for New Jersey | The Daily Show"?

The episode runs 16 min; the transcript is about 2,637 words in 26 timestamped sections.

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