Last week Republican Utah Governor Spencer Cox was calmly giving the world updates on conservative influencer Charlie Kirk’s assassination at Utah Valley University. Today he was on the Notre Dame campus for an already scheduled talk to promote bipartisanship.
Cox took the DeBartolo Center stage with Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and University President Father Robert Dowd. Much of their hour-long chat had nothing to do with Kirk, but Father Dowd made sure to tell Cox this.
“Governor Cox, in the days since Charlie Kirk was assassinated, I think your leadership has been extraordinary as we’re all truly grateful.”
Cox and Lujan Grisham have built a reputation for doing what they think is right, even if that means working with the other party or angering their own. Cox has this advice.
“It’s getting to know your neighbor, it’s serving our fellow human beings, it’s finding ways to engage with people who are different than you," Cox said. "It’s really hard to hate up close.”
Both governors have led the National Governors Association, where Lujan Grisham said governors aren’t afraid to borrow ideas from other states, even those led by the other party.
”And I should be working to make that relevant in my own state, and then I should have the courage to talk about how a Republican governor here inspired me," Lujan Grisham said.
