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Utah Gov Spencer Cox Calls Shooting Of Charlie Kirk A Political

Bonisiwe Shabane
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utah gov spencer cox calls shooting of charlie kirk a political

Charlie Kirk, a political activist and close ally of President Donald Trump who played an influential role in rallying young Republican voters, was shot and killed Wednesday at a Utah college event in what... A person of interest was in custody earlier, officials said, but FBI Director Kash Patel said they had been released after interrogation. “This is a dark day for our state. It’s a tragic day for our nation," said Utah Gov. Spencer Cox during a press conference. "I want to be very clear that this is a political assassination.”

In his remarks, shown in full in the video player above, Cox emphasized the significance of Kirk being shot on a college campus, calling debates "fundamental to the foundation of the country." "Charlie believed in the power of free speech and debate to shape ideas and to persuade people," he said. "Historically, our university campuses in this nation and here in the state of Utah have been a place where truth and ideas are formulated and debated, and that's what he does." Those were among the first words Utah Gov. Spencer Cox uttered as he faced the cameras soon after the young conservative activist Charlie Kirk was gunned down in his state while engaging in a conversation with college students. The Republican governor has long championed civility in public discourse and has been an outspoken critic of political polarization.

He toured the nation to foster healthier disagreements and once appeared in a campaign ad alongside his Democratic opponent. But this week, Cox, dressed in a dark Utah Department of Public Safety polo shirt, found himself describing the unthinkable, what he called the "political assassination" of Kirk. “We mourn as a nation. If anyone in the sound of my voice 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... “I don't care what his politics are. I care that he was an American.”

Cox listed other recent incidents of political violence aimed at individuals across the political spectrum. He pointed to killings in Minnesota, where a state Democratic lawmaker and her husband were killed, the arson attempt against Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro − and the attempts on the life of Republican President Donald Trump. The nation’s spotlight shined on Utah this week when it became the site of one of the most public political assassinations in U.S. history. On Wednesday, Charlie Kirk, a well-known conservative youth organizer, was shot to death in front of a crowd of 3,000 at Utah Valley University, with videos quickly circulating across the country and around the...

The horrific murder of Kirk, who left behind his wife, Erika, and two children under 4, embodied the spiraling political polarization that Utah Gov. Spencer Cox has used his platform to call out and condemn for the past four years. “My whole hope is that this is a catalyst to help us find that off-ramp that we desperately need,” Cox said in an interview with the Deseret News on Friday. “And I think Utah is showing the way.” As chair of the National Governors Association from 2023 to 2024, Cox led a “Disagree Better” initiative modeling healthy dialogue between members of opposing political parties. If the nation did not turn down the rhetorical temperature, Cox warned, political violence would increase.

Gov. Spencer Cox speaks at a press conference at Utah Valley University after Charlie Kirk, CEO and co-founder of Turning Point USA, was shot and killed during a visit at the university in Orem, Utah,... 10, 2025. (Tess Crowley/The Deseret News via AP) Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, left, speaks with Utah Valley University Chief of Police Jeff Long, right, at a press conference at the Keller Building on the Utah Valley University campus after Charlie Kirk was shot and...

10, 2025, in Orem, Utah. (AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum) Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, right, speaks at a press conference at the Keller Building on the Utah Valley University campus after Charlie Kirk was shot and died during Turning Point’s visit to the university, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025, in Orem, Utah. (AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum)

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox had consistently called for civility in a polarized country where it feels increasingly rare. And then the political violence came to his own backyard. Hours after conservative influencer Charlie Kirk was gunned down at Utah Valley University, with partisan reflexes kicking into gear, the Republican stood before cameras and offered a prayer for a different path as the... approaches its 250th birthday. Utah Gov.

Spencer Cox speaks following the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. In a solemn and emotional statement on Wednesday evening, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox declared the fatal shooting of Turning Point USA founder and dad of two, Charlie Kirk, to be a "political assassination" that strikes at the very heart of American democracy. "This is a dark day for our state. It's a tragic day for our nation," Cox said, denouncing the act as an affront to the Founders' vision that "all men are endowed... with certain inalienable rights.

The first one of those is life." The Republican governor reminded Americans that Kirk was "first and foremost a husband and a dad to young children," and that his commitment to free speech was why he was on campus. Charlie believed in the power of free speech and debate to shape ideas and to persuade people… Utah Gov. Spencer Cox speaks at a press conference flanked by FBI Director Kash Patel following the fatal shooting of political activist Charlie Kirk on Friday in Orem, Utah. Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images hide caption

When Utah Gov. Spencer Cox announced there was a suspect in custody for the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on Friday, he delivered another message directly to young Americans. "You are inheriting a country where politics feels like rage. It feels like rage is the only option," Cox said to a crowded room of reporters at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. Cox, a Republican, encouraged young people to "choose a different path," referencing a comment Kirk made before his death about how society has to get back to having "reasonable agreement where violence is not... Watch Cox from Friday's press conference:

September 28, 2025 / 7:32 PM EDT / CBS News Utah Gov. Spencer Cox urged Americans to condemn political violence as inflammatory rhetoric escalated in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk's assassination. The 50-year-old Republican was angry, nauseous and in disbelief when he called the White House to report Kirk had died after the Sept. 10 shooting at Utah Valley University. Addressing the public, he decried political violence against both Democrats and Republicans and focused on the opportunity for Americans to disagree in non-violent ways.

"I'm not asking anybody to hold hands and hug it out," Cox told 60 Minutes. "I'm not asking for that. I'm trying to get people to stop shooting each other. That's it." The assassination of Kirk 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, Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband were killed, and state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were wounded in politically-motivated shootings. A year earlier, there was an assasination attempt made against President Trump, who was then on the campaign trail. SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox has been worried about politics for years.

Throughout his time in office, he has offered frequent calls to "disagree better," to restore trust in institutions and see the humanity in political or ideological opponents. Speaking at the Atlantic Festival in Washington in September of 2023, Cox issued a stark, and ultimately prescient warning, about a political environment where leaders use fear to divide Americans. "I truly believe that we're living through kind of an 1850s experience in our country again," he said. "As you drain the trust from the system, as Jonathan Haidt said ... the end result of that is not just us hating each other in a pluralistic society, but it ends with people shooting each other. "And that should scare all of us, and it should scare all of us into doing whatever we can to stop that, to reengage each other in positive ways."

Just shy of two years later, Cox took the podium at Utah Valley University to announce the arrest of Tyler James Robinson, 22, suspected of shooting and killing conservative activist and Turning Point USA... After detailing the manhunt and investigation that led to Robinson's arrest, Cox again pleaded with Utahns and Americans to find a way to turn down the temperature. (Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) Gov. Spencer Cox calls for more civil political discourse Friday at a news conference announcing the arrest of a suspect in the shooting death of Charlie Kirk. For the 33 hours it would take police and FBI investigators to pore over evidence and pursue thousands of tips that would lead them to the suspected gunman in the assassination of conservative activist... Spencer Cox repeated one prayer: Don’t let the perpetrator be from Utah.

The governor hoped to comfort Utahns with the notion that one of the state’s own did not pull the trigger. “But it did happen here,” Cox said during a news conference Friday when he announced the arrest, “and it was one of us.” Late Thursday, police apprehended 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, a resident of the southwestern Utah city of Washington. The realization that the shooter was homegrown sent ripples across a state that prides itself on being nice, polite, with good families and strong communities. Now Utahns are left trying to square that ideal with the brutality exhibited by Kirk’s killer. Utah Gov.

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