It is not exactly a novel insight to say that Democrats do best in big cities, but Comedy Central’s Ronny Chieng was still floored by the idea on Wednesday’s edition of The Daily Show. During an interview with Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval, Chieng wondered how the Democrat was able to win in a heavily Democratic city while also throwing race into the conversation.
Chieng was trying to understand the keys to Pureval’s success but wanted something more than the typical clichéd answers politicians give to such questions, “I understand, listening to folks, okay, blah, blah, blah. We get it. I'm just saying that, yes, you are incredibly good-looking. So, you listen to people, blah, blah, blah. I’m just saying, this is a very divisive time and you're running as a—you’re not a white person, and you are presumably a little bit progressive, which I am stereotyping based on your political affiliation.”
He then got to his question with more references to white people before catching himself, “In this time when, like, the Democratic brand is very toxic, kind of, this progressive stuff is very toxic in the middle of the country. So, how did you get elected? How did you convince these white people—how did you convince these people to get on board with you with what you were trying to do?”
It’s not rocket science. Most red states still have blue areas, just like most blue states have some red areas. Cincinnati is one of those blue areas. In Pureval’s first mayoral election, his general election opponent was another Democrat. Additionally, Ohio is about 79 percent white while Cincinnati is 49 percent white.
Despite Chieng’s desire to avoid clichés, that is what Pureval gave him in response:
Yeah, again, the only answer I have for you is politics is about empathy, and in order to win that person’s vote in a very short amount of time, you have to convince them that you understand their issues, that you are passionate about their issues, and that you are going to fight like hell to fight for the things that they care about. We have been successful in doing that—not just through rhetoric, but also through actually delivering results, and that I know you guys are more focused on the federal level, but that is the difference between federal politics and local politics. The federal nonsense doesn't work at the local level, and we understand that in Cincinnati and are delivering for our citizens.
The comedy shows have this habit of highlighting progressive mayors getting elected in dark blue cities to help advance the idea that they represent the future. However, they typically ignore the mayors’ more controversial stances. For instance, Chieng never asked Pureval about recent allegations the city considers race when awarding contracts.
Here is a transcript for the July 8 show:
Comedy Central The Daily Show
7/8/2026
11:26 PM ET
RONNY CHIENG: I understand, listening to folks, okay, blah, blah, blah.
AFTAB PUREVAL: Yeah.
CHIENG: We get it. I'm just saying that, yes, you are incredibly good-looking. So, you listen to people, blah, blah, blah. I’m just saying, this is a very divisive time and you're running as a—you’re not a white person, and you are presumably a little bit progressive, which I am stereotyping based on your political affiliation.
In this time when, like, the Democratic brand is very toxic—
PUREVAL: Yeah. Yeah.
CHIENG: —kind of, this progressive stuff is very toxic in the middle of the country. So, how did you get elected? How did you convince these white people—how did you convince these people to get on board with you with what you were trying to do?
PUREVAL: Yeah, again, the only answer I have for you is politics is about empathy, and in order to win that person’s vote in a very short amount of time, you have to convince them that you understand their issues, that you are passionate about their issues, and that you are going to fight like hell to fight for the things that they care about. We have been successful in doing that—not just through rhetoric, but also through actually delivering results, and that I know you guys are more focused on the federal level, but that is the difference between federal politics and local politics. The federal nonsense doesn't work at the local level, and we understand that in Cincinnati and are delivering for our citizens.
