Utah Gov. Spencer Cox on civility and the state of the country : NPR

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox is comfortable expressing his faith in politics. He is less comfortable with a trend he sees: “Politics is replacing religion.”

Cox gained attention in September after the killing of activist Charlie Kirk in Utah. After informing the public of the suspect’s arrest, the governor added a personal appeal to Americans to think differently about politics. “I would encourage people to unplug, turn off, touch the grass, hug a family member, go out and do good in their community,” he said.

Just before the Thanksgiving holiday, NPR sat down with Cox for a conversation about the state of the country. He addressed the aftermath of Kirk’s shooting in a divided nation — and discussed other issues, from nuclear power to artificial intelligence, that he sees as linked to those divisions.

The conversation appears on several NPR platforms – on Morning editionin a special episode of First podcast, and in a video you can watch above or on YouTube.

Below are some key points from the conversation.

He says people heard and embraced his message in September

“We have to decide: Is this an off-ramp?” Cox said, adding that he thought some people were taking it. “Here we are months later, and the response continues to be overwhelmingly positive.”

He described meeting a mother whose son, she said, wanted to redirect his life after hearing the governor’s remarks. Cox also said he heard about the comments as far away as New Zealand, where he traveled as part of a trade delegation.

A conservative Republican, Cox governs a state whose voters have at times been willing to tolerate criticism of President Trump. He describes his faith as “essential” to the way he approaches politics.

He remains concerned about a divided nation

Cox has done “better to disagree,” as he puts it: treating political opponents with civility.

“We continue to think that if we win this election, we will never have to work with these people,” he said. But the Constitution requires that “we will always have to work with these people. This is the way it is done. We have to build coalitions.”

“We’re looking for tribes somewhere,” he said. “And we see that in politics. Politics replaces religion.”

He questions Trump’s promise to investigate liberal groups

Cox said that if groups are truly encouraging violence, then “we should hold them accountable.” But after Kirk’s assassination, “every Democrat I talked to about this was just appalled.”

He said he preferred to focus on a single shooter responsible.

“In my faith, we believe in free will. We believe that we are responsible for our own decisions and that others are not responsible for them. And so trying to attack an entire group of people or an ideology because of one person is not fair or just.”

His critics include some on the right

Cox spoke at the first gathering of Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA, after the assassination. Some in the crowd booed him. Kirk previously called for Cox to be expelled from the Republican Party in 2022 after the governor vetoed a law banning trans athletes from girls’ sports in schools.

Cox said he thought it was worth getting in front of a crowd that disagreed with him, and once he explained the reasons for his veto, the crowd applauded. He argued that the legislation only targeted a handful of athletes, was poorly designed and would simply lead to lawsuits.

He says Trump failed to seize the opportunity to unify the nation

Cox said he did not vote for Trump in 2016 or 2020, but supported him in 2024 after an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. He called Trump’s survival a “miracle” and said only he could unify the nation. When asked if that happened, Cox said, “I think if you asked him that question, he would say no. I don’t think that happened.”

Still, he said the support was valuable because “I have the opportunity to have a relationship with the president. And I think that’s very important to me. It’s very important to Utahns.”

Cox said Trump called him after Kirk’s assassination and praised his call for unity, even though Trump “didn’t model that and he sees the world a little differently than I do.”

The radio version of this interview was conducted by Taylor Haney and edited by Arezou Rezvani.