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Utah GOP Governor Spencer Cox Tries to Tone Down National Anger [1]

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Date: 2025-09-12

Let’s Follow GOP Governor Spencer Cox– “Disagree Better” September 12, 2025

All of us should be horrified about the violent shooting of right-wing activist and Trump ally Charlie Kirk on September 10, 2025 in Utah. Although I totally disagreed with Kirk’s politics, there is NO excuse whatsoever for ending his life and we should not rejoice at his killing. Conservative ideas must be answered with respectful dialogue and at the ballot box, not by bullets. Yes, some of the more unhinged GOPers in Congress and elsewhere have been calling for violence against liberals, Democrats, and anyone else they disagree with. That is completely wrong and tends to lead to more violence. Instead, this country should listen more and follow what Utah Republican Governor Spencer Cox has said about this tragedy.

Before this assassin had been caught, Governor Spencer Cox, despite hearing far too many cries for revenge on social media, walked in front of a microphone and begged Americans to “disagree better.” Gov.Cox emphatically stated, “Our nation is broken.” He then mentioned a growing list of political violence that had targeted Republicans, including Trump. He also did not fail to mention the assassination of a Democratic lawmaker in Minnesota and the attempted assassination of PA’s Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro whose house was nearly set on fire after he had been observing theJewish holiday of Passover. He further added, for those who “celebrated even a little bit at the news of this shooting, I would beg you to look in the mirror, and to see if you can find a better angel in there somewhere.” https://www.newyorktimes.com/2025/09/11/us/politics/charlie-kirk-spencer-cox-utah.html Translation: It’s not violence we should glorify or follow. A better way to deal with political differences, IMHO, is to debate issues or in the words of the Biblical Prophet Isaiah, “Come now, and let us reason together.” (Is. 1:18).

And Gov. Cox is a far different GOPer than Demagogue Donald. What was Donald’s first reaction to this awful killing? He quickly blamed “the radical left.” He declared that their rhetoric was “directly responsible for the terrorism that that we’re seeing in our country today.” https://www.newyorktimes.com/2025/09/11/us/politics/charlie-kirk-spencer-cox-utah.html

Let’s meet Gov. Cox.

Spencer James Cox (50) is a native of Mount Pleasant Utah. He grew up in nearby Fairview on a farm. His father served on the Utah Transportation Commission and was a Sanpete County commissioner. Spencer Cox is the oldest of eight children. He enrolled at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah, but took off two years to serve as a Mormon missionary in Mexico. After doing his missionary stint, he returned to Snow and married his high-school sweetheart. After getting his Associate’s Degree from Snow, he attended Utah State University (USU) in Logan and graduated in 1998 with a BA in political science and a perfect straight-A 4.0 grade point average. At USU, Cox was also named Student of the Year. Although he was accepted by Harvard Law School, he chose to go to the Washington and Lee Law School. He was a member of that school’s Law Review, an honor usually reserved for top ranking law students. In 2001, he received his law degree with honors. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_Cox

After graduating law school, Cox clerked for a U.S. Federal District Court Judge in Utah from 2001-2002. He then entered private practice with a law firm in Salt Lake City. However, he later returned to rural Utah where he became a vice-president of Centracom. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_Cox In 2004, he was elected as a Fairview city councilor and as mayor the following year. In 2008, he won election as a Sanpete County commissioner. In 2012, he was elected to the Utah State’s House of Representatives. In 2012, he became the first member to call for the impeachment of Utah’s Attorney General John Swallow for violations of campaign finance laws. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_Cox

Still, he did not serve long in that post. Utah GOP Governor Gary Herbert tapped Cox to become Lieutenant Governor to succeed departing Lt. Gov. Greg Bell. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_Cox , https://thealmanacofamericanpolitics.com , 2024, National Journal, 2023, p. 1866

As Lt. Governor,Cox attracted national attention when he gave a speech after the gay nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida. In that speech, Cox offered support for LGBTQ rights and apologized for his own past mistreatment of fellow students he later found out were gay. He asked, “How did you feel when you heard that 49 people had been gunned down by a self-proclaimed terrorist?” Cox stated in his speech that that was an easy question. He then

added that the hard question to answer was, “Did that feeling change when you found out the shooting was at a gay bar at 2 a.m?” Cox said, “If that feeling changed, we’re doing something wrong.” In his Lt. Gov. post, Cox was also responsible for improving the lives of Salt Lake City’s homeless population. https://thealmanacofamericanpolitics.com , 2024, National Journal, 2023, p.1866

The governorship held by Gov. Herbert since 2009 opened in 2020 and Cox ran for it in that year with Herbert’s endorsement. Both Herbert and Cox, though conservative, were part of the pragmatic, not extremist wing of the GOP with their support of LGBTQ rights and immigrants. Cox won his primary and in the general election in Utah, an “ultra-Red” state, he clobbered his Democratic opponent 60%-30% and ran six points ahead of Donald. https://thealmanacofamericanpolitics.com Cox was re-elected in 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_Cox

We should not at all be surprised that Gov. Cox condemned the “joy” some people had over political assassinations in any political party. Gov. Cox, as the NY Times noted, is “far from your typical Republican in today’s era of hyperpolarization, which, remember, includes “leader” Angry Man Donald. He has made an initiative of “Disagree Better” a key part of his governorship. With this initiative, Cox goes out of his way to encourage political foes to behave with more humility. In fact, in the waning days of his first run for Utah Governor in 2020, he appeared alongside his Democratic opponent, Chris Peterson. They participated in an unusual advertisement in which both of these candidates urged voters to listen to each other. Four years later, he sat down alongside progressive Maryland African American Gov. Democrat Wes Moore in a forum to discuss how to solve problems without devolving into anger. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/us/politics/charlie-kirk-spencer-cox-utah.html

Yes, Utah is a socially conservative and strongly “Red” State. That is because its heavily Mormon population follows the conservative stands of the dominant Mormon Church. Gov. Cox calls himself “pro-life.” He opposes abortion except in cases of rape, incest or to protect the life of the mother. He supported the U.S. Supreme Ct. overruling “Roe v. Wade.” He also signed a bill into law banning any addition of fluoride into UT’s public water to prevent cavities, an obsession with some hard-core right-wingers and a view supported by HHS Sec. RFK Jr.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_Cox

However, Utah Mormons take decorum and character seriously. They have been uneasy with Donald’s angry rhetoric and nasty behavior, even though, ultimately, Cox and the majority of his constituents still voted for him. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/us/politics/charlie-kirk-spencer-cox-utah.html

However, even though this writer and most Democrats would not vote for Gov. Cox or similar politicians because of their very conservative stands, his civilized behavior should be encouraged among fellow Americans and, especially, fellow Republicans. Decorum and character must be elevated in our nation, not Donald’s smash-mouth behavior and wrecking-ball actions. As 19th-Century Mormon pioneer Brigham Young, who led his followers to Utah and proclaimed about the Salt Lake Valley, “This is the place,” Americans must also say, “Utah, with Gov. Cox at the helm, is the place.” It is the place right now where a Republican Governor can help us start changing the tone of this nation. Let’s aim like Gov. Cox to “disagree better.”

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