Utah Gov. Spencer Cox has renewed his appeal for greater civility in American politics following the September killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah. In a recent NPR interview, Cox described the response to his message and his continuing concerns about deepening political divisions, urging Americans to treat opponents with respect even amid a polarized climate.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox is again urging Americans to step back from partisan anger, months after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed in Utah.
Following news of Kirk's killing in September and a briefing on the arrest of a suspect, Cox used a public appearance to ask Americans to rethink how they engage in politics. "I would encourage people to log off, turn off, touch grass, hug a family member, go out and do good in your community," he said, according to an interview broadcast by NPR.
Cox, a conservative Republican who says his faith is "core" to how he approaches politics, has made what he calls "disagreeing better" a signature theme — treating political opponents with civility even during intense debates. Speaking with NPR just before Thanksgiving at a meeting of Western governors, he reflected on how his September remarks were received.
"We have to decide: Is this an off-ramp?" he said, adding that he believes some people are taking it. "Here we are months later, and the response continues to be overwhelmingly positive." He recounted meeting a mother who told him her son wanted to redirect his life after hearing the governor's comments, and said he heard about the speech as far away as New Zealand, where he traveled as part of a trade delegation.
Despite that encouragement, Cox said he remains worried about deepening partisan divides. He has argued that the United States' constitutional system requires political coalitions and cooperation.
"We keep thinking if we just win this election, we'll never have to work with those people," he said. "But the Constitution requires that we will always have to work with those people. That's how this gets done. We have to build coalitions." He added that "we're looking for tribes somewhere" and increasingly "we're finding that in politics. Politics is replacing religion."
Cox also addressed former President Donald Trump's response to the killing. After Kirk's death, Trump promised to investigate liberal groups he has accused of encouraging violence. Cox told NPR that if any group is truly inciting violence, "we should hold them accountable." But he cautioned against blaming broad categories of people for the actions of an individual gunman.
Drawing on his religious beliefs, Cox said: "In my faith, we believe in agency. We believe that we are responsible for our own decisions and that other people aren't responsible for those. And so to try to attack an entire group of people or an ideology because of one person isn't right and isn't fair." He added that after the killing, "every single Democrat I know that I talked to about this was just appalled."
The governor acknowledged that some of his sharpest critics come from the right. He spoke at the first gathering of Kirk's organization, Turning Point USA, after the killing. Some in the audience booed him, a reaction he linked in part to his 2022 veto of legislation that would have banned transgender girls from playing in girls' school sports — a move that had prompted Kirk to call for Cox to be expelled from the Republican Party. Cox told NPR he believed it was important to address the crowd directly and said that after he explained his reasoning on the veto, the audience ultimately applauded. He has argued that the bill targeted only a small number of athletes, was poorly crafted and would likely invite lawsuits.
Cox also discussed his relationship with Trump. He said he did not vote for Trump in 2016 or 2020 but endorsed him in 2024 after an assassination attempt on the then-former president in Butler, Pa. He described Trump's survival as a "miracle" and said he believed at the time that only Trump could unify the nation. Asked in the NPR interview whether that has happened, Cox replied: "I think if you were to ask him that question, he would say no. I don't think that's happened."
Even so, Cox said he still views the endorsement as meaningful. "I have an opportunity to have a relationship with the president. And I think that's very important to me," he said. "It's very important to Utahns."
Cox told NPR that Trump called him after Kirk's killing and praised his appeal for unity, even though, in Cox's words, the former president "hasn't modeled that, and he sees the world a little differently than I do." Cox said he hopes that, despite those differences, leaders and voters alike can look for ways to lower the temperature of national politics.
