Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) has a warning: America is becoming a “nation of contempt.”
Cox brought his Disagree Better campaign to university leaders at Monday’s American Council on Education Commission on Faith-Based Colleges and Universities event, saying that growing disdain for ideological opposites threatens the country's ability to problem solve, rebuking his own party in the process.
The message is at the heart of his Disagree Better campaign, which was born out of his term as National Governors Association chair and aims to reduce political polarization and foster a culture of debate.
But for the two-term governor, who has been floated as a potential 2028 contender, the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk on a college campus in Orem, Utah underscored fears he had long expressed about growing political hostility.
“Everything I had been talking about and preaching in and believing in, and warning about the potential for additional violence, as we've seen it escalating in our country over the past 10 years, was suddenly on our doorstep,” Cox said at the event.
During his address Monday, Cox pointed to ad he and his Democratic opponent, law professor Chris Peterson (D), aired in the final days of the 2020 race as an example of the type of culture he wants to promote: civility in politics. He also teamed up with Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) two years ago for an ad highlighting their differences, but also similarities, like being fathers.
But Cox’s appeal for civility included critiques of his own party. He said the viral 2020 ad came during “dark times” when President Trump was “running for re-election and undermining, already undermining an election that hasn't even happened yet.”
He also criticized left-leaning orthodoxy in some corners of higher education, but warned Republicans against imposing their own ideological litmus tests in response.
“Our call for more searching scrutiny of humanistic disciplines must not be read as a call for replacing ideological scholarship of one sort with ideological scholarship of another sort. There are many people in my party that are trying to do exactly that,” Cox said.
Cox is bringing his message to the bookshelves in September, joining a growing list of potential 2028 contenders who are set to release books with his debut titled Off Ramp: How to Be a Peacemaker in an Age of Contempt.
— Abby Turner
