Late night comedy’s all-out effort to drag Zohran Mamdani across the finish line in New York City’s upcoming mayoral election continued on Monday on Comedy Central with its most direct bit of campaigning. The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart welcomed Mamdani to tell him how much “I love hearing” about his campaign and to claim that he has been surprised establishment Democrats have not fallen in line behind him. Stewart insisted that he is not “blowing smoke,” but he clearly was, “And what I love hearing about this is, one of the things that has been so frustrating in our politics is so much of it has been defined over these last ten years as the negative case against someone, and finally—and I think this is not blowing smoke -- I think you've made an affirmative case for people. I think the enthusiasm that they have for you is because you have made an affirmative case that's not about protecting something that is going to be lost or a bad man that’s over there.”     As for Mamdani’s intra-party critics, Stewart added, “It is about an idea that you have, and it surprised me that the Democratic establishment did not embrace that energy. And is that something that has bothered you? Is getting better? I mean, Hakeem Jeffries, with a brave, brave endorsement, I thought, 24 hours ago—what has that been like for you?” Mamdani’s “affirmative case” is basically being the middle schooler who runs for student government promising no homework and free ice cream all day, every day. There’s also the Hamas propagandizing that, somehow, Stewart never managed to bring up in a 30-minute interview. As for Mamdani’s response, he took the free opportunity to pat himself on the back, “You know, I think it is interesting in many ways, because our politics and the media that covers it is often focused on the question of endorsements. And it is part of what gave Cuomo the sense of inevitability in the primary. He just seemed to pick up all of these different endorsements. And I think what we showed in many ways was that the days of endorsements deciding elections, those days have come to the end. It is the people who built up a campaign. And, you know, I appreciate having Congressman Jeffries, his endorsement, and I appreciate more than that when we have spoken, it's been about, how do we deliver for our shared constituents?” Turning to Trump, he continued, “Because it’s, you know—these are the same New Yorkers, whether we are representing them in city hall or Albany or D.C., and like you said, we have been telling them time and again that all we have to offer is not Trump. But this is also the city that created Trump. We have to reckon with that. And when you think about—” Stewart then interrupted, “Did you hear, there was an audible gasp? ‘This is the city that created Trump’ and everyone was like, ‘Oh, my god, that's right!’ Are we Dr. Frankenstein? Nooooo! Nooooo!’" Yes, but instead of Trump, New York and the late night comedy shows should be more worried about giving the rest of us Mamdani. Here is a transcript for the October 27 show: Comedy Central The Daily Show 10/27/2025 11:30 PM ET JON SETWART: And what I love hearing about this is, one of the things that has been so frustrating in our politics is so much of it has been defined over these last ten years as the negative case against someone, and finally — and I think this is not blowing smoke — I think you've made an affirmative case for people. I think the enthusiasm that they have for you is because you have made an affirmative case that's not about protecting something that is going to be lost or a bad man that’s over there. It is about an idea that you have, and it surprised me that the Democratic establishment did not embrace that energy. And is that something that has bothered you? Is getting better? I mean, Hakeem Jeffries, with a brave, brave endorsement, I thought, 24 hours ago — what has that been like for you? ZOHRAN MAMDANI: You know, I think it is interesting in many ways, because our politics and the media that covers it is often focused on the question of endorsements.  STEWART: Right. MAMDANI: And it is part of what gave Cuomo the sense of inevitability in the primary. He just seemed to pick up all of these different endorsements. And I think what we showed in many ways was that the days of endorsements deciding elections, those days have come to the end. It is the people who built up a campaign. And, you know, I appreciate having Congressman Jeffries, his endorsement, and I appreciate more than that when we have spoken, it's been about, how do we deliver for our shared constituents?  STEWART: Right. MAMDANI: Because it’s, you know—these are the same New Yorkers, whether we are representing them in city hall or Albany or D.C., and like you said, we have been telling them time and again that all we have to offer is not Trump. But this is also the city that created Trump.  STEWART: Right. MAMDANI: We have to reckon with that. And when you think about— STEWART: Did you hear, there was an audible gasp? "This is the city that created Trump" and everyone was like, "Oh, my god, that's right!” Are we Dr. Frankenstein? No! No!"