After Charlie Kirk’s killing, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox says we must “stop hating our fellow Americans” Clutch Fire

A lonely voice rose above the rancor after the murder of Charlie Kirk. Spencer Cox, the Republican governor of Utah, may not have been familiar to many, but after the assassination in his state, he asked whether we could all “stop hating our fellow Americans.” We wanted to hear more and we were surprised to learn the 50-year-old Republican has spent years campaigning for reconciliation. Cox is asking Americans to respect our differences, which, at this moment, is not universally admired in his own party.

Gov. Spencer Cox: I get accused on the right all the time of– I just want people to have a “kumbaya” moment. I want people to hold hands and just hug it out. And we’re done with that. We’re done holding hands and hugging it out. I’m not asking anybody to hold hands and hug it out. I’m not asking for that. I’m trying to get people to stop shooting each other. That’s it. And I think what I’m doing and what I’m saying is the best way to do that. Some people will disagree with that and that’s OK. We should have these debates as a society. I’m not always right. I’ve made mistakes. Other politicians, I think, are making mistakes right now in trying to elevate the temperature. But, but I’m going to just keep having these conversations.

Scott Pelley: In this moment, what’s at stake?

Gov. Spencer Cox: Scott, I, I, I– don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that the, the future of our country is at stake. This grand experiment that we embarked on 250 years ago, can we hold together?

Scott Pelley: And what if our politics cannot find the path to the brighter light?

Gov. Spencer Cox: That’s the question I always ask. When I hear people say that, that we’re at war. I say, “OK. And and and what? What does that mean? What is next? Who, who am I supposed to shoot now?”

The shot, September 10th, was the kind of attack now happening every couple of months or so. In April, the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania and his family escaped after their home was firebombed. In June, in their homes, two Minnesota Democratic lawmakers and their spouses were gunned down. A year earlier, on the campaign, it was Donald Trump himself. When told this time it was Utah, Cox didn’t believe it. But there it was on his phone.

Gov. Spencer Cox: The video was already out. There was no fog of war. There, there was no doubt what had happened. That terrible awful video that I wish I had not seen. I hate, again, social media, that almost every person in this country, including our young people, have seen that video on a loop over and over and over again. And I can’t unsee it. I can’t stop seeing it. Every time I close my eyes, that’s what I see. 

The governor sent an aide to the hospital, who reported that Kirk was dead. Cox dialed a number. 

Scott Pelley: As you’re calling the White House, what is in your heart?

Gov. Spencer Cox: Just sickness. Nauseous. Disbelief. Anger. At this point, I’m very angry. 

Gov. Spencer Cox (during press conference on Sept. 10, 2025): …to whoever did this, we will find you, we will try you and we will hold you accountable to the furthest extent of the law… 

His anger was showing. 

Gov. Spencer Cox (during press conference on Sept. 10, 2025): I just want to remind people that we still have the death penalty here in the state of Utah.

But when he searched for meaning, he recalled the suffering of both parties.

Gov. Spencer Cox (during press conference on Sept. 10, 2025): Our nation is broken. We’ve had political assassinations recently in Minnesota. We had an attempted assassination on the governor of Pennsylvania. And we had an attempted assassination on a presidential candidate and former president of the United States and now current president of the United States. Nothing I say can unite us as a country. Nothing I can say right now can fix what is broken. We just need every single person in this country to think about where we are and where we want to be. 

Gov. Spencer Cox: I’ve been following, I’ve been studying political violence. And so I, I’m keenly aware when these things happen and I’m seeing, I’m seeing people get, get murdered, get attacked who are Democrats and Republicans and that’s where it came from in that moment. 

Scott Pelley: In the days after the murder, as you’re trying to bring the country together, Steve Bannon, the philosopher of the MAGA Right, called you a national embarrassment.

Gov. Spencer Cox: Yeah. I love free speech. I would give my life defending his right to say that about me. That’s OK. We can have that debate. There are some people that think I am a national embarrassment. And that’s OK too.

Scott Pelley: Who do you blame for the division? 

Gov. Spencer Cox: I do believe that social media is a cancer. And it is taking all of our worst impulses and putting them on steroids. It, it is driving us to division. It is driving us to hate. These algorithms that have captured our, our very souls. They’ve, they’ve captured our free agency. These dopamine hits that get our young people and our old people addicted to outrage and hate that serve us up on a regular basis are absolutely leading us down a, a very dark path. 

A path through platforms that look like civil war, powered by algorithms, programs, written to amplify posts of rage. 

Gov. Spencer Cox: The algorithms are absolutely destroying us. Once they know what your political leanings are, then it’s like a pack of wolves that just attack. We have this collective problem where- that we can’t solve because we’re all sucked in, and we don’t know how to get out.

We met Spencer Cox in the capitol at the foot of the Wasatch Range in Salt Lake City. He was raised, one of eight, on a farm of modest means. He’s a lawyer, devoutly Mormon, with three years left on his second term. His conservative record includes tax cuts, expansion of gun rights and restrictions on abortion.

Scott Pelley: You are a Republican but not a Trump Republican.

Gov. Spencer Cox: Well, that, that depends. I did vote for him this last time. He…

Scott Pelley: But not in ’16 or 2020.

Gov. Spencer Cox: That is also correct. And he gives me a very hard time about that every time we’re, we’re together. The tent is broad on the right. And I’m trying to show one way to do politics. 

His way to do politics surprised many in 2020. Campaigning for governor, he refused to run negative ads. 

Spencer Cox (campaign ad from 2020): I think you should vote for me. 

Chris Peterson (campaign ad from 2020): Yeah, but, but really, you should vote for me.

Instead, he asked his Democratic opponent to join him on the air. 

Spencer Cox (campaign ad from 2020):  We can disagree without hating each other. 

Chris Peterson (campaign ad from 2020): And win or lose in Utah, we work together. 

Spencer Cox (campaign ad from 2020): So, let’s show the country that there’s a better way. 

Chris Peterson (campaign ad from 2020): My name’s Chris Peterson 

Spencer Cox (campaign ad from 2020): and I’m Spencer Cox, 

Both (campaign ad from 2020): and we approve this message.

Cox took the message beyond Utah when, in 2023, he became chair of the bipartisan National Governors Association. There, he launched a campaign called “Disagree Better,” and went back on the air. 

(Disagree Better video from 2023) SPENCER COX: I’m Spencer Cox Republican governor of Utah, 

(Disagree Better video from 2023) JARED POLIS: and I’m Jared Polis, Democratic governor of Colorado…

Twenty three governors from both parties joined “Disagree Better.” 

(Disagree Better video from 2023) SPENCER COX: Healthy disagreement means not assuming that the other side is deluded, misinformed or actively trying to overthrow America. 

This month, Cox took the message to the University of Notre Dame. He’s done more than 20 of these events nationwide, often with Democratic governors, including Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico.

Scott Pelley: Does Disagree Better mean that we should drop our differences and everybody meets in the middle?

Gov. Spencer Cox: Absolutely not. In fact, it’s the exact opposite of that. Abortion is an issue on which we disagree passionately. And and yet, even though we have these very strong, it looks like a chasm between us, I think we would both agree that we should be doing more to take care of, of single moms. I think those are the types of things that we can agree on while still being pretty passionate about, about whether we think abortion should be legal or not.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham: And when you do that and we listen and we find that we– there is some common ground, it– it–reduces, right, lowers the temperature. It provides opportunity not just for discourse, but doing something.

Scott Pelley: Do governors understand something that Washington does not?

Both: Yes!

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham: Yes. We’re completely about results, not about rhetoric. 

Gov. Spencer Cox: We like to say that potholes aren’t partisan. And governors do have to deliver actual results. I think there’s, sadly, in in D.C. we’ve seen this performative politics, and, and, and much less substance.

Scott Pelley: There are some people watching this interview who are disgusted that you two are sitting together.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham: Well, we need courage over comfort. You know, I don’t work for– a partisan party. I work for every single New Mexican. 

Gov. Spencer Cox: Yeah, I see her as an American before I see her as, as a Democrat or anything else. I think we need more of these conversations. I think we need them in our– in our own homes, in our own neighborhoods, in our school boards, in our city councils all across the country. 

The day Charlie Kirk was murdered, one of the first calls Spencer Cox received was from Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham. 

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham: We should be condemning at every chance we get political violence. Our democracy falters when we don’t. This is an American. This is a person. This is a person who lost his life in free speech. And there’s real grieving for that family. And it doesn’t end tomorrow. It will last a lifetime.

Scott Pelley: Says the Democrat.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham: Says the Democrat, because it’s true. It’s true.

Gov. Spencer Cox: Please include that.

We returned with Spencer Cox to Utah Valley University.

Gov Spencer Cox (to crowd during Utah Valley University visit on Sept. 17, 2025): That flag, that doesn’t represent any single group. It doesn’t represent one part of our country and not another part of our country.

Students gathered where Charlie Kirk was killed. Cox told the crowd they can’t count on politicians. Change, he said, must come from all of you.

Gov. Spencer Cox: I’m desperately looking for more architects and fewer arsonists. Again, it’s so easy to burn down and tear down and– and we’ve got too much of that today. I’m I’m hoping that a positive vision for our country, a positive vision for our party treating everyone with dignity and respect, that’s how we get our country back.

Scott Pelley: Some people watching this interview might be thinking, “He should run for president.” But the fact is you would never survive Republican primaries.

Gov. Spencer Cox: Well, the thought of, of– running for president makes me nauseous. I I, have no interest in that. I’m glad that there are good people who are willing to do that. But– that is not something I’ve ever been interested in. And you’re also correct. The, the, way we select our candidates makes it almost impossible for someone like me to have an opportunity.

Scott Pelley: Is it possible that your message is naïve, that the violence will just continue?

Gov. Spencer Cox: That’s– that’s very possible, that’s very possible. I think the founders were naïve to believe that they could start a new country based on very different principles than virtually any country in the history of the world. I think that it was naïve that– we could rebuild after a civil war had fractured us and we had killed 600,000 of our fellow Americans. So, I believe that naiveté with– some passion can change the world. It’s probably the only thing that ever has. 

Produced by Maria Gavrilovic. Associate producer, Madeleine Carlisle. Broadcast associates, Michelle Karim andGeorgia Rosenberg. News associate, Ava Peabody. Edited by Peter M. Berman.